Mr.  &  Mrs.  Horace  A.  Scott 

2208  North  Ross  Street 

Santa  Ana,  California  92706 


Court  of  Lions,  Alhambra. 


THE 

MEDITERRANEAN 

AND  ITS  BORDERLANDS 


BY 
JOEL  COOK 

AUTHOR  OF  "FRANCE:    HISTORIC  AND  ROMANTIC' 
"ENGLAND:  PICTURESQUE  AND  DESCRIPTIVE" 


ILLUSTRATED 


IN  TWO  VOLUMES 


VOL.   I 


WESTERN  COUNTRIES 


THE    JOHN    C.    WINSTON    CO. 
PHILADELPHIA 


COPYRIGHT,  igio.  BY 
THE  JOHN  C.  WINSTON  Co. 


INTRODUCTION" 

The  great  Mediterranean  Sea  has,  in  recent  years, 
grown  increasingly  attractive  to  a  vast  aggregation 
of  American  visitors.  They  go,  in  large  numbers, 
to  visit  its  famous  borderlands  and  historic  shores, 
and  the  noted  islands  of  the  sea,  so  that  the  Mediter- 
ranean Tour  has  become  a  favorite  route  for  the 
pleasure  traveller,  and  those  in  search  of  knowledge. 
Many  of  the  best  ocean  steamships  are  now  employed 
in  this  popular  service,  and  the  leading  lines  are  all 
providing  for  the  constantly  enlarging  stream  of 
travel. 

This  book  is  designed  to  give  an  outline  descrip- 
tion of  that  wonderful  inland  ocean, —  which  the  an- 
cients named  from  their  belief  that  it  was  in  "  the 
midst  of  the  earth," —  and  of  its  islands,  and  sur- 
rounding shores,  with  their  romance  and  history ;  and 
also  to  present  some  account  of  their  present  condi- 
tion and  appearance.  The  narrative  opens  with  the 
islands  off  the  Mediterranean  entrance,  and  grad- 
ually progresses  from  the  comparatively  modern  re- 
gions of  the  western  sea,  to  the  older  lands  of  the 
Levant,  some  of  them  displaying  the  relics  of  the 


INTRODUCTION 

most  ancient  civilizations  of  the  world.  These  ven- 
erable countries  are  now  just  dawning  into  a  new 
life,  with  the  awakening  that  naturally  comes  from 
the  infusion  of  modern  American  and  European 
ideals. 


CONTENTS 

VOLUME  I. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE  PILLARS  OF  HERCULES.  PAGE 

Fabled  Atlantis  —  The  Western  Islands  —  Madeira  —  The 
Peak  of  Teneriffe  —  Iberia  —  The  Great  River  —  Se- 
ville and  the  Cid  —  The  Ancient  Moorish  Capital  — 
Cadiz  and  Trafalgar  —  Entering  the  Gibraltar  Strait  .  3 

CHAPTER  II. 

THE  FORTRESS  AND  THE  PALACE. 

The  Rock  of  Gibraltar  —  History  of  the  Fortress  —  The 
Great  Siege  —  The  Fortress  To-day  —  Ronda  and 
Malaga  —  Going  to  Granada  —  The  Alhambra  Palace  .  83 

CHAPTER  III. 
THE  BARBARY  COAST. 

Entering  Africa  —  Morocco  —  The  Atlantic  Seaboard  —  A 
Moslem  Town  —  The  Morocco  Capital  —  Ceuta  and  the 
Tetuan  —  The  Riffs  —  Algeria  —  The  African  Paris  — 
Constantine  Province  —  Tunisia  —  Ancient  Carthage  — 
Holy  Kairouan  —  Tripoli  —  The  Vast  Sahara  .  .  .  155 

CHAPTER  IV. 
THE  IBERIAN  SHORE. 

Almeria  and  Cartagena  —  Murcia  and  Alicante  —  The 
Kingdom  of  Valencia  —  Approaching  the  Ebro  —  Tor- 
tosa  to  Saragossa  —  Tarragona  —  Montserrat  —  Bar- 
celona —  To  the  Pyrenees 273 

V 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE  RIVIERA.  PAGE 

The  River  Rhone  —  Marseilles  —  The  Naval  Station  of 
France  — •  Cannes  to  Nice  —  The  Corniche  Road  — 
Monaco  and  Monte  Carlo  —  Mentone  to  San  Remo  — 
Approaching  Genoa  —  The  Chief  Seaport  of  Italy  .  414 

CHAPTER  VI. 
ISLANDS  OF  THE  SEA. 
The    Balearic    Archipelago  —  Corsica  —  Sardinia  —  Malta 

—  The  Italian  Islands  —  Capri 473 

CHAPTER  VII. 

CAMPANIA. 
The  Gulf  of  Salerno  —  The  Magnificent  Bay  —  The  City  of 

Naples  —  The  Great  Volcano  —  The  Buried  City   .      .   522 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

TRINACRIA. 

Stromboli  —  Scylla  and  Charybdis  —  The  Land  of  Earth- 
quakes —  The  World's  Greatest  Tragedy  —  Messina  to 
Catania  —  Mount  Etna  —  Messina  to  Palermo  —  Pa- 
lermo —  Western  Sicily  —  Agrigentum  —  Southeastern 
Sicily  —  Syracuse 609 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

VOLUME  I. 


PAGE 

COUET  OF  LIONS,  ALHAMBBA Frontispiece 

AXCAZAB,  SEVILLE 52 

COURT  OF  GRANGES,  MOSQUE  OF  COBDOVA 64 

INTERIOR  OF  THE  MOSQUE,  CORDOVA 66 

CADIZ 72 

MALAGA 118 

THE  ALHAMBBA  AND  THE  VALLEY  OF  THE  DABRO     .      .      .124 

TOWER  OF  THE  SEVEN  FLOORS,  ALHAMBBA 150 

LIGHTHOUSE,  CAPE  SPABTEL 156 

ENTBANCE  TO  A  MELLA,   OB  JEWISH  QUABTEB   ....   174 

A  GABDEN  IN  MOROCCO 202 

A   BIT  OF   OLD   BISKRA 236 

A  MOORISH  INTERIOR 240 

STREET   IN   SABAGOSSA 312 

CATHEDBAL  OF  OUR  LADY  OF  THE  PILLAB,  SABAGOSSA  .      .318 

BARCELONA 344 

NOTBE  DAME  DE  LA  GARDE  —  MARSEILLES 368 

CASINO — •  MONTE   CARLO 388 

GAMBLING  ROOM,  CASINO  —  MONTE  CARLO 394 

HARBOB  ENTRANCE  AND  FORT  RICASOLI,  MALTA     .      .      .  446 

CAPBI,  THE  LANDING  PLACE 470 

AMALFI 478 

THE  CITY  AND  THE  BAY  OF  NAPLES 486 

THE  FOBUM  AT  POMPEII 518 

THE  CATHEDRAL,  PALERMO 572 

vii 


THE   MEDITERRANEAN 
AND     ITS     BORDERLANDS 


THE  PILLARS  OF  HERCULES 

The  Strait  of  Gades — Hercules — Iberia — Tartessus — The  For- 
tunate Islands — Fabled  Atlantis — The  Sargasso  Sea — The 
Azores — Flores — Corvo — Fayal — Horta — Pico — St.  George — 
Terceira — Graciosa — St.  Michael's — Ponta  Delgada — Ma- 
deira— Funchal — The  Canaries — Teneriffe — Pico  de  Teyde — 
Ferro — Cape  St.  Vincent — Portugal — Sagres — Lagos — the 
Guadiana — Badajos — Rio  Tinto — Palos — La  Eabida — Huelva 
— Tharsis — the  Guadalquivir — Bonanza — San  Lucar — Anda- 
lusia— Jerez — The  Moors — Seville — The  Cathedral — The  Gi- 
ralda — The  Alcazar — The  Cid — Almodovar — Cordova — The 
Great  Mosque — Carvajales — Cadiz — Cape  Trafalgar — Nel- 
son's Victory  and  Death — Tarifa — Strait  of  Gibraltar — Calpe 
and  Abyla — Pillars  of  Hercules. 

FABLED    ATLANTIS. 

Time  was,  when  the  Pillars  of  Hercules  bounded 
the  end  of  the  world  for  the  ancients.  Now,  for 
the  modern  visitor  coming  from  the  West,  they  mark 
the  entrance  to  what,  for  him,  is  almost  a  new 
world.  In  the  view  of  the  ancient  Greeks,  these 

3 


4  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

mythical  guardian  pillars  of  the  Strait  of  Gades, 
had  nothing  but  "  the  all-encircling  ocean-river  ly- 
ing beyond."  This  strait  was  believed  to  be  the 
southern  entrance  to  the  ocean,  while  the  channel 
between  France  and  England  was  the  northern  en- 
trance. The  Phoenicians  had  coasted  along  the 
shores  outside,  and  found  to  the  southward  what 
were  known  in  a  hazy  sort  of  way,  as  the  "  Fortunate 
Islands,"  while  northward  they  had  gone  as  far  as 
Gaul  and  Britain,  bringing  back  tin  to  mix  with 
Spanish  copper  to  make  bronze,  and  also  weird  tales 
of  the  hyperborean  regions  of  the  far  north  and  their 
long  winter  nights.  They  had  made  a  settlement 
on  the  northern  shore  beyond  the  strait  which  they 
called  Gades,  now  Cadiz,  and  Herodotus  described 
Gades  as  "  on  the  ocean  outside  the  Pillars  of  Her- 
cules." 

The  mythological  hero  of  Greece,  Hercules,  is  said 
to  have  been  the  first  of  the  Hellenic  immortals  who 
ventured  into  the  unexplored  ocean  to  the  westward, 
going  there  in  the  performance  of  some  of  his  great 
"  labors."  He  found  a  ponderous  mountain  enclos- 
ing the  Mediterranean,  but  he  cleft  it  down  and 
tore  the  ridge  asunder,  thus  opening  the  passage  to 
the  Atlantic,  leaving  massive  promontories  on  either 
side,  and  erecting  upon  each,  a  pillar  in  commemora- 
tion. These  pillars  are  now  represented  in  the 
heraldic  emblems  supporting  the  Spanish  national 
arms,  with  the  motto  non  plus  ultra — "no  more 


FABLED  ATLANTIS  5 

beyond,"  indicating  the  end  of  the  mortal  world, 
as  anciently  believed.  They  were  similarly  used  on 
the  silver  Spanish  pillar  dollar,  and  united  by  a 
scroll  — •  $  —  became  afterward  the  dollar  mark  of 
the  United  States.  The  early  Greeks  in  the  distant 
Levant  vaguely  called  the  region  about  the  pillars 
Iberia ;  which  finally  came  to  be  the  designation  of 
the  Spanish  peninsula;  and  the  Phrenicians  named 
it  Tartessus,  supposed  by  some  to  be  the  origin  of 
the  name  of  Tarshish  of  Scripture.  Beyond,  in  the 
mythical  Grecian  idea,  was  the  remote  region  of 
the  extreme  West,  a  land  of  mystery  and  enchant- 
ment, known  vaguely  by  the  reports  of  adventurous 
Phoenician  mariners,  imagined  to  be  the  unlimited 
domain  of  the  setting  sun,  and  the  "  Land  of  Prom- 
ise." They  saw  in  the  evening  how  gorgeously  the 
sun  sets  — 

Through  the  Hesperian  gardens  of  the  West 
And  shuts  the  gates  of  Day. 

To  this  unknown,  yet  admired  region  went  the 
powerful  Hercules  for  his  tenth  labor,  when  he 
brought  back  the  famous  oxen  of  Geryones,  from 
Erythia,  one  of  the  mythical  islands  of  the  remote 
ocean ;  while  for  his  eleventh  labor  he  was  "  climb- 
ing trees  in  the  Hesperides,"  where  he  got  the  golden 
apples  from  the  garden  of  the  daughters  of  Hes- 
perus and  slew  the  dragon  which  guarded  them. 
Earth  had  given  these  apples  to  Hera,  at  her  mar- 


6  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

riage  with  Zeus,  the  garden  being  described  as  far 
away  in  the  West,  at  the  borders  of  ocean,  in  the 
"  Fortunate  Islands,"  and  near  the  point  of  Heaven, 
where  the  sun  sets.  Claudius  Ptolemy,  the  famous 
Alexandrine  astronomer  of  the  second  century,  who 
expounded  the  theory  of  the  earth  being  the  centre 
around  which  the  solar  system  revolved,  in  his 
treatises  and  plans  indicated  vaguely  these  islands 
on  the  edge  of  the  Atlantic  beyond  the  Mediter- 
ranean entrance.  The  ancient  thought  has  been 
prettily  used  by  Joaquin  Miller  in  his  sonnet,  The 
Fortunate  Isles. 

You  sail  and  you  seek  for  the  Fortunate  Isles, 
The  old  Greek  isles  of  the  yellow-bird's  song, 

Then  steer  straight  on  through  the  watery  miles, 
Straight  on,  straight  on,  and  you  can't  go  wrong. 

Nay,  not  to  the  left,  nay,  not  to  the  right, 
But  on,  straight  on,  and  the  isles  are  in  sight, 
The  Fortunate  Isles  where  the  yellow-birds  sing 
And  life  lies  girt  with  a  golden  ring. 

These  Fortunate  Isles,  they  are  not  so  far, 
They  lie  within  reach  of  the  lowliest  door; 

You  can  see  them  gleam  by  the  twilight  star, 
You  can  hear  them  sing  by  the  moon's  white  shore. 

Nay,  never  look  back!     Those  leveled  grave-stones 
They  were  landing  steps,  they  were  steps  unto  thrones 
Of  glory  for  souls  that  have  sailed  before, 
And  have  set  white  feet  on  the  fortunate  shore. 

And  what  are  the  names  of  the  Fortunate  Isles? 
Why,  Duty  and  Love  and  a  large  Content; 


FABLED  ATLANTIS  7 

Lo,  these  are  the  isles  of  the  watery  miles 
That  God  let  down  from  the  firmament. 

Lo,  Duty  and  Love  and  a  true  man's  Trust; 
Your  forehead  to  God,  though  your  feet  in  the  dust; 
Lo,  Duty  and  Love  and  a  sweet  babe's  smiles, 
And  these,  O  friend,  are  the  Fortunate  Isles. 

The  Pillars  of  Hercules  were  upon  the  two  rocky 
promontories,  Calpe,  on  the  northern  side  of  the 
Strait  —  now  Gibraltar  —  and  across  on  the  African 
coast,  Abyla,  near  Ceuta,  now  known  by  the  English 
name  of  Apes  Hill.  Out  somewhere  beyond,  yet 
located  very  indefinitely  in  the  imagination  of  the 
ancient  world,  was  the  fabled  island  of  Atlantis. 
Homer,  Horace  and  other  classical  writers,  called 
it  the  "  Garden  of  the  Hesperides  "  and  the  "  Ely- 
sian  Fields,"  and  it  was  believed  to  be  the  Home 
of  the  Blessed.  There  was  a  general  idea  among 
most  of  the  ancient  races  of  Europe,  that  Heaven 
was  across  the  unexplored  western  sea.  As  to  the 
real  existence  of  Atlantis,  and  its  actual  character, 
there  were  differing  opinions,  leading  to  many  dis- 
putes. It  was  described  as  a  Continent,  lying  over 
against  the  Pillars  of  Hercules,  in  extent  greater 
than  Lybia  and  Asia  put  together,  and  Plato  said 
that  it  was  the  passage  to  other  islands,  and  another 
extensive  continent,  of  which  the  Mediterranean  was 
only  the  harbor.  Thus,  even  at  that  early  time  was 
vaguely  hinted  the  existence  of  America.  Plato 
wrote  that  the  Egyptian  priests  at  Saos  had  given 


8  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

Solon  a  description  of  Atlantis,  and  of  the  great 
power  of  its  people.  The  legend  ran,  that  nine  thou- 
sand years  before  the  time  of  Plato,  Atlantis  was 
populous  and  powerful,  and  had  conquered  the  west- 
ern portions  of  Europe  and  Africa.  At  one  time, 
its  whole  power  was  arrayed  against  the  nations  bor- 
dering the  Mediterranean,  and  all  yielded  to  the 
mastery  of  the  invaders  excepting  the  Athenians. 
Solon  is  quoted  by  Plato  as  saying  that  he  had 
heard  the  most  famous  of  all  the  Athenian  exploits 
was  the  overthrow  of  Atlantis.  "  Then  did  your 
city  bravely,"  said  Solon,  "  and  won  renown  over 
the  whole  earth.  For  at  the  peril  of  her  own  ex- 
istence, and  when  the  other  Hellenes  had  deserted 
her,  she  repelled  the  invader,  and  of  her  own  ac- 
cord gave  liberty  to  all  the  nations  within  the  Pillars. 
A  little  while  afterward  there  was  a  great  earth- 
quake, and  your  warrior  race  all  sank  into  the  earth, 
and  the  great  island  of  Atlantis  also  disappeared  in 
the  sea."  This  traditionary  submergence  took  place 
long  before  historic  times,  some  say  at  least  eighty 
thousand  years,  and  was  attributed  to  the  interven- 
tion of  the  gods  coming  to  the  rescue  of  the  peoples, 
the  legend  being  one  of  the  most  interesting  of  the 
ancient  myths.  The  bottom  of  the  Atlantic  ocean 
is  formed  of  two  deep  basins,  one  on  each  side  of 
a  broad  and  shallow  central  plateau,  extending  from 
the  Hebrides  southward  to  the  Azores,  thence  turn- 
ing southwest,  and  finally  northwest  to  Bermuda. 


THE  WESTERN  ISLANDS  9 

This  may  have  been  the  configuration  of  the  fabled 
island.  The  ocean  is  very  deep  between  the  Azores 
and  Madeira,  and  between  both  groups  of  islands 
and  Portugal,  averaging  fifteen  thousand  feet. 

THE    WESTERN   ISLANDS. 

The  voyage  across  the  Atlantic,  eastward  from 
the  United  States  to  the  Mediterranean,  goes  over  the 
supposed  location  of  fabled  Atlantis,  which  gave 
the  ocean  its  name.  It  is  a  pleasant  journey,  quickly 
bringing  the  traveller  across  summer  seas.  The 
Mediterranean  entrance  is  in  latitude  36°  north, 
and  opposite  Kittyhawk,  in  front  of  Albemarle 
Sound,  North  Carolina.  The  distance  from  New 
York  to  Gibraltar  is  about  3215  miles.  The  jour- 
ney is  usually  marked  by  gorgeous  sunsets,  pleasant 
days  and  lovely  nights  when  the  bright  moon  shines, 
and  one  soon  enters  a  region  of  warmer  weather  than 
on  the  American  coast.  It  has  been  well  described 
as  "  the  picturesque  route  to  Europe  "  by  an  ocean 
thoroughfare  which  is  becoming  more  and  more 
travelled.  The  location  of  fabled  Atlantis  is  still 
marked  by  many  outlying  islands,  dotted  about  the 
region  environing  the  Mediterranean  entrance,  which 
are  really  the  tall  summits  of  mountains  rising 
from  the  bottom  of  the  ocean,  and  from  the  great 
dividing  submerged  plateau  of  the  North  Atlantic. 
They  are  in  three  groups  —  the  Azores,  the  Madeiras, 
and  southward,  off  the  African  coast,  the  Canaries. 


10  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

The  route  from  New  York,  at  about  2300  miles  dis- 
tance, passes  directly  through  the  archipelago  of  the 
Azores,  or  Western  Islands,  and  thence  to  Cape  St. 
Vincent,  the  southwestern  buttress  of  the  Iberian 
peninsula,  and  along  the  coasts  of  Portugal  and 
Spain,  to  Gibraltar.  The  steamer's  prow  is  pointed 
a  trifle  south  of  east  when  leaving  Sandy  Hook 
heading  for  the  island  of  Fayal,  and  one  of  the 
new  attractions  the  sea  provides  as  the  Azores  are 
approached,  are  the  fleets  of  the  nautilus,  those  lit- 
tle "  Portuguese  men-of-war  "  as  they  are  popularly 
called,  sailing  gaily  on  the  water  in  the  evening  like 
bubbles  blown  by  the  wind.  Another  peculiarity  of 
the  voyage  is  its  route  near  the  northern  verge  of 
what  is  known  as  the  "  Sargasso  Sea."  Between 
the  Antilles  and  the  Azores  appears  this  vast  float- 
ing mass  of  seaweeds,  covering  several  hundreds  of 
square  miles  of  the  ocean,  and  drifting  about  in  rafts 
or  islands,  as  they  may  be,  veered  by  the  varying 
currents  of  the  Gulf  Stream.  The  mass  sometimes 
becomes  so  dense  as  to  retard  navigation.  It  was 
•passed  through  by  Columbus  on  his  first  voyage  of 
discovery,  he  and  subsequent  Spanish  navigators 
calling  it  the  Mar  de  Sargaco,  the  weeds  being  known 
as  the  Sargassum.  They  seem  to  live  and  propagate 
themselves  on  the  surface  of  the  water  and  the  float- 
ing masses  sustained  by  little  air-filled  berries  give 
permanent  homes  to  many  small  pelagic  animals  and 


THE  WESTERN  ISLANDS  11 

others  seeking  them  for  food.     Cornelius  George  Fen- 
ner  has  based  upon  this  his  pretty  sonnet : 

A  weary  weed  tossed  to  and  fro, 

Drearily  drenched  in  the  ocean  brine, 
Soaring  high  and  sinking  low, 

Lashed  along  without  will  of  mine; 
Sport  of  the  spoom  of  the  surging  sea, 

Flung  on  the  foam  afar  and  anear; 
Mock  my  manifold  mystery, — 

Growth  and  grace  in  their  place  appear. 

I  bear  round  berries,  gray  and  red, 

Rootless  and  rover  though  I  be; 
My  spangled  leaves,  when  nicely  spread, 

Arboresce  as  a  trunkless  tree; 
Corals  curious  coat  me  o'er, 

White  and  hard  in  apt  array; 
*Mid  the  wild  waves'  rude  uproar, 

Gracefully  grow  I,  night  and  day. 

Hearts  there  are  on  the  sounding  shore, 

Something  whispers  soft  to  me, 
Rootless  and  roaming  for  evermore, 

Like  this  weary  weed  of  the  sea; 
Bear  they  yet  on  each  beating  breast 

The  eternal  type  of  the  wondrous  whole; 
Growth  unfolding  amid  unrest, 

Grace  informing  with  silent  soul. 

The  Azores  are  a  group  of  nine  islands  stretch- 
ing in  an  oblique  line  for  about  four  hundred  miles 
from  northwest  to  southeast,  between  latitudes  40° 
and  36°  north  and  longitudes  31°  and  25°  west. 
They  are  eight  hundred  miles  off  the  Portuguese 


12  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

coast,  to  which  nation  they  belong,  and  are  in  three 
clusters.  The  westernmost  pair,  Flores  and  Corvo, 
are  to  the  northward  of  the  usual  track  of  vessels 
which  are  bound  to  the  central  cluster,  the  five 
islands  of  Fayal,  Pico,  St.  George,  Terceira  and 
Graciosa,  while  another  pair,  St.  Michael's  and 
Santa  Maria,  are  to  the  southeastward.  The  early 
discoverers  found  numerous  hawks  and  buzzards  on 
these  islands,  whence  come  their  name,  derived  from 
the  Portuguese  word  Agor,  meaning  "  a  hawk."  The 
Arabian  geographers  who  first  knew  them  made 
special  mention  of  these  birds.  The  Flemish  navi- 
gator, Vanderberg,  in  1432,  was  driven  on  them  by 
stress  of  weather,  and  this  attracted  attention  at 
Lisbon,  leading  to  subsequent  Portuguese  and  Span- 
ish possession.  They  became  the  convenient  ren- 
dezvous of  the  fleets  going  to  and  from  the  Indies, 
and  a  calling  place  for  voyages  in  all  directions  across 
the  Atlantic.  These  islands  are  elevated  and  un- 
dulating in  outline,  rising  into  peaks,  and  having 
almost  continuously  high  and  precipitous  coasts; 
the  whole  archipelago  being  of  volcanic  origin,  and 
there  having  been  numerous  eruptions  and  earth- 
quakes, especially  in  St.  Michael's,  Villa  Franca,  the 
capital,  having  been  thus  destroyed,  with  six  thou- 
sand people,  in  1522.  Frequent  eruptions  have  oc- 
curred since,  the  worst  being  in  1841,  and  they  were 
sometimes  accompanied  by  subterranean  outbursts, 
of  which  a  remarkable  one  appeared  in  June  1811, 


THE  WESTERN  ISLANDS  13 

off  the  western  end  of  St.  Michael's,  a  conical  crater 
of  ashes  and  lava  rising  three  hundred  feet  above 
the  sea  but  soon  disappearing.  This  volcanic  island 
was  seen  to  arise  by  the  crew  of  the  British  war- 
ship Sdbrina,  and  the  commander  named  it  after 
his  ship.  There  is  an  equable  and  most  lovely 
climate,  although  severe  storms  often  rage  around 
the  islands.  The  area  of  the  group  is  about  nine 
hundred  square  miles,  and  their  population  approxi- 
mates 255,000.  When  first  visited  by  the  Portu- 
guese, there  were  no  human  inhabitants  found,  and 
only  a  few  animals,  but  plenty  of  hawks.  The  be- 
nign and  somewhat  humid  atmosphere  clothes  them 
with  luxuriant  vegetation,  which  the  natural  fertility 
develops  in  perfection. 

The  remote  northwestern  pair  of  islands  of  the 
Azores,  being  distant  from  the  usually  travelled 
route,  are  seldom  visited  but  are  attractive.  Mores 
got  its  name  and  world-wide  fame  from  the  abun- 
dant luxuriance  of  its  flowers,  and  is  also  known 
for  its  fine  poultry  and  attractive  though  diminutive 
cattle.  It  is  1708  miles  east-southeast  of  Halifax, 
and  1176  miles  west  of  Cape  Koca,  the  most  western 
part  of  the  coast  of  Portugal.  Little  Corvo  is  a 
quaint  gem,  seventeen  miles  to  the  northward  of 
Flores,  a  beautiful  island,  bold  in  outline  and  cov- 
ered with  the  most  delicious  green.  It  is  about  five 
miles  long  and  almost  an  oval.  This  diminutive 
island  has  various  privileges  of  government,  its  own 


14  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

mayor  and  senate,  and  the  peasant  proprietors  who 
sit  as  senators  own  their  lands.  They  have  been 
very  exclusive,  but  of  late  years  have  intermarried 
with  the  people  of  Flores  and  some  have  even  mi- 
grated to  Brazil.  The  story  is  told  that  seldom 
wearing  shoes  or  stockings,  the  dignified  senators 
of  Corvo  usually  attended  the  sessions  barefooted, 
but  had  a  sharp  lookout  kept,  so  as  to  be  warned  of 
boats  arriving  from  Flores  in  time  to  adjourn  the 
session  and  not  be  caught  by  the  visitors  when  sit- 
ting with  uncovered  feet. 

It  was  almost  at  the  foot  of  a  cliff  a  thousand 
feet  high  on  the  southern  coast  of  Flores,  and  upon 
jagged  rocks  known  to  the  natives  as  the  "  Mouth 
of  Hell,"  that  the  Cunarder  Slavonia  went  ashore  in 
a  fog,  June  9,  1909,  and  was  wrecked,  though  every 
life  was  saved,  the  passengers  being  taken  to  the 
Mediterranean  by  ships  quickly  summoned  through 
the  agency  of  the  wonderful  alarm  calls  of  the  wire- 
less telegraph.  A  special  memory  of  Flores,  how- 
ever, comes  from  Tennyson's  Ballad  of  the  Fleet, 
which  begins  with  the  line  "  At  Flores  in  the 
Azores,  Sir  Richard  Grenville  lay."  It  was  off 
Flores  in  1591  that  this  British  vice-admiral  had 
his  famous  sea  fight  of  "  the  one  and  the  fifty-three." 
Grenville  was  one  of  Sir  Walter  Raleigh's  captains 
and  colonists,  who  made  various  voyages  to  Carolina 
and  the  West  Indies.  When  the  Spanish  Armada 
came  in  1588  to  attack  England,  Queen  Elizabeth 


THE  WESTERN  ISLANDS  15 

made  him  a  member  of  her  council  to  devise  means 
of  defence,  afterward  appointing  him  vice-admiral, 
and  he  was  among  the  sea  dogs  that  in  subsequent 
years  kept  watch  on  the  Spanish  fleets  after  the 
.Armada  had  dispersed.  Off  Elores  in  1591  in  his 
ship  Revenge  he  encountered  a  Spanish  squadron  of 
fifty-three  vessels  with  ten  thousand  men  aboard. 
The  Revenge,  of  500  tons,  had  thirty  guns  and  a 
crew  of  one  hundred  with  a  small  body  of  gentlemen 
volunteers.  The  San  Philippe,  her  chief  antagonist, 
was  of  1500  tons  with  seventy  guns.  He  promptly 
went  out  to  give  battle,  the  contest  beginning  at 
three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  and  fought  all  night 
till  daybreak,  Grenville  beating  off  the  Spanish 
ships  sixteen  times,  sinking  four  of  them  and  killing 
a  thousand  Spaniards. 

Ship  after  ship,  the  whole  night  long,  their  high-built  galleons 

came, 
Ship  after  ship,  the  whole  night  long,  with  her  battle- thunder 

and  flame; 
Ship  after  ship,  the  whole  night  long,  drew  back  with  her  dead 

and  her  shame. 

Grenville  was  wounded  early  in  the  fight,  but  re- 
fused to  go  below,  crying,  "  Fight  on,  Fight  on !  " 
Afterward  he  was  shot  through  the  body  and  car- 
ried into  his  cabin,  and  soon  nothing  was  left  but 
a  shattered  hulk,  with  masts  shot  off  and  powder 
almost  gone,  most  of  the  crew  being  slain,  but  he 
declined  to  surrender,  saying: 


16  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

Sink   me   the   ship,   Master   Gunner,  —  sink   her,   split  her   in 
twain  ! 
into  the  hands  of  God,  not  into  the  hands  of  Spain! 


But  as  he  lay  dying,  the  few  survivors,  too  weak 
to  fight  longer,  surrendered,  and  the  doughty  ad- 
miral was  taken  aboard  a  Spanish  ship,  where  he 
soon  afterward  expired,  thus  fitly  closing  the  remark- 
able contest. 

The  steamer  from  the  United  States  usually  enters 
the  archipelago  in  the  central  group  of  islands,  ap- 
proaching the  western  extremity  of  Fayal  at  Point 
Comprado  and  coasting  along  the  northern  shore 
past  Cedros  Point.  This  island,  named  for  its  prev- 
alent indigenous  shrub,  the  "  fayo,"  a  species  of 
beech,  presents  an  impressive  appearance,  its  sur- 
face sloping  grandly  down  from  the  mountain,  3,600 
feet  high,  which  is  the  prominent  feature  of  the  view. 
It  is  nine  miles  long  and  has  a  picturesque  coast, 
under  the  contrasting  colors  of  light  and  shade  made 
by  the  brilliant  morning  sun,  with  all  parts  of  the 
tillable  surface  carefully  planted  and  cultivated. 
The  island  is  quickly  passed  and  the  steamer  rounds 
the  northeastern  buttress  into  the  harbor  of  the  Villa 
de  Horta,  the  great  port  of  call  for  vessels  passing 
through  the  Azores.  This  village  of  about  eight 
thousand  people  scattered  over  the  hill  slopes,  bor- 
ders a  fair  roadstead  some  two  miles  long  upon  the 
Fayal  channel  separating  Fayal  from  Pico,  the  next 
island  to  the  eastward.  The  little  harbor  is  bravely 


THE  WESTERN  ISLANDS  17 

defended  by  two  old  castles  down  at  the  waterside 
and  a  wall;  but  in  the  onward  \vorld  progress,  such 
antique  works  are  more  for  show  than  strength. 
Behind  these  medieval  defences,  the  flat-roofed  adobe 
houses  glisten  brightly  in  the  sunlight,  with  high 
cliffs  towering  above  them. 

But  the  grander  view  is  the  outlook  from  Horta 
upon  the  island  across  the  channel,  Pico,  or  "  the 
peak,"  only  three  miles  away.  This  is  a  most  re- 
markable island,  composed  chiefly  of  an  immense 
conical  mountain  of  volcanic  formation,  rising  7,613 
feet,  its  soil  being  pulverized  lava,  and  the  lower 
slopes  well  cultivated.  It  is  the  great  attraction  of 
the  Azores.  Rising  boldly  from  the  deep  blue  sea, 
and  standing  in  faultless  outline  sharply  cut  against 
the  sky,  the  white  surf-line  fringing  the  deep  green 
below,  and  fleecy  clouds  sailing  slowly  above,  this 
beautiful  cone  is  elevated  a  mile  and  a  half  above 
the  water,  faint  smoke  from  its  internal  fires  es- 
caping from  the  summit.  This  smoke  is  regarded 
by  the  people  as  a  harbinger  of  safety.  When  it 
ceases  to  appear  they  are  in  alarm,  fearing  an  erup- 
tion and  disturbance,  and  take  refuge  in  the  low 
structures  scattered  about,  which  are  called  "  earth- 
quake houses."  Pico  is  a  grand  sight  in  the  ap- 
proach from  the  west  in  the  early  morning,  with 
the  sun  just  rising  behind  it,  the  white  smoke  jet 
at  the  top  plainly  visible,  the  clouds  floating  below 

the  whitened  summit,  tinted  with  the  rose,  while  the 
VOL.  1—2 


18  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

sloping  sides  are  still  enveloped  in  a  semi-darkness 
that  intensifies  their  deep  green  shades.  Passing 
northward  of  Pico,  the  steamer  sails  eastward 
through  the  broad  channel  dividing  it  from  the  long 
and  narrow  island  of  St.  George.  Gradually  cross- 
ing this  channel,  the  coast  of  St.  George  is  ap- 
proached nearer,  the  hill  slopes  from  the  long  central 
mountain  backbone  forming  it,  falling  off  gracefully 
to  the  sea,  displaying  pasture  and  grain  fields,  vine- 
yards and  forest.  This  island  is  almost  thirty  miles 
long,  and  its  chief  town  nestles  along  the  shore,  the 
Villa  de  Vellas,  the  "  city  of  the  watch-towers,"  its 
houses  rising  in  terraces,  encircled  by  green  or- 
chards and  vineyards  in  the  surrounding  amphithe- 
atre of  hills. 

Sailing  beyond  the  promontories  marking  the  east- 
ern end  of  St.  George,  the  steamer  crosses  the  inter- 
vening strait  to  the  picturesque  island  of  Terceira, 
so  named  because  it  was  the  third  island  of  the 
group  in  the  order  of  discovery,  and  being  central 
in  position  it  has  been  made  the  capital  of  the 
Portuguese  province  of  the  Azores.  Steaming 
slowly  along  its  rock-bound  coast,  the  capital  city 
of  Angra  is  passed  in  review,  a  little  port  upon  a 
comparatively  fair  harbor.  This  white-walled  town 
is  in  a  romantic  situation,  nestling  closely  beside  the 
sea,  the  land  sloping  upward  in  steep  acclivities  be- 
hind, and  encircling  it  from  the  west  around  to  the 
north,  so  that  the  town  faces  toward  the  southeast. 


THE  WESTERN  ISLANDS  19 

A  short  low  isthmus  connects  with  a  southern  pro- 
truding promontory  having  three  rounded  summits, 
rising  some  eight  hundred  feet,  the  southern  extrem- 
ity presenting  a  perpendicular  wall  to  the  breakers 
beating  at  its  base.  At  the  edge  of  this  promontory 
toward  the  town  are  the  battlements  of  an  old  for- 
tress crumbling  in  picturesque  ruin,  and  thence  a 
sea-wall  extends  to  the  little  harbor.  Behind  the 
town  is  the  mountain  chain  forming  the  backbone  of 
Terceira,  and  from  its  central  peaks  spreading  off 
into  bold  promontories  at  either  extremity  of  the 
island.  To  the  northwest  of  Terceira  and  north- 
ward of  St.  George,  is  Graciosa,  so  named  from  the 
extreme  beauty  of  its  scenery.  It  is  very  attractive, 
and  has  a  port  Santa  Cruz,  but  is  off  the  customary 
route  of  vessels.  Out  in  the  ocean  between  Graciosa 
and  Terceira  is  the  spot  where  an  eruption  in  June 
1867  threw  up  a  volcanic  island  that  afterward  dis- 
appeared. 

Stretching  from  Terceira  to  St.  Michael's,  the 
largest  of  the  Azores,  and  about  one  hundred  miles 
to  the  southeast,  the  bottom  of  the  sea  is  a  sub- 
merged plateau  generally  at  two  hundred  fathoms 
depth,  while  outside  it  the  water  is  at  least  ten  times 
as  deep.  Sailing  over  this  stretch,  Tvith  the  bril- 
liantly colored  shores  of  Terceira  diminishing  in  the 
distance,  the  traveller  cannot  help  thinking  that  here 
at  least  may  be  sunk  a  part  of  the  lost  Atlantis. 
Then  the  widely  spreading  shores  of  St.  Michael's 


20  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

come  in  sight,  changing  from  blue  to  gray  and  then 
to  green  with  the  approach.  Rounding  the  western 
extremity  rising  like  a  vast  truncated  cone  sending 
its  perpendicular  cliffs  down  to  the  sea,  the  capital 
of  Ponta  Delgada  presents  at  the  waterside  a  thick 
cluster  of  white  buildings  with  red-tiled  roofs,  en- 
circling a  small  open  bay  in  the  curving  shore,  with 
gardens  on  the  higher  ground  and  conical-topped 
hills  behind.  On  the  one  hand  bold  rocks  rise  from 
the  sea  backed  by  the  elevated  crater  of  the  Cidades, 
while  on  the  right  a  long  curve  of  shore  broken  only 
by  the  jutting  cliff  of  the  Dog's  Head  has  beyond  it 
the  crowning  mountain  of  the  island,  the  stately 
Serra  d'Agoa  da  Pau,  elevated  over  3000  feet.  The 
little  harbor  protected  by  a  breakwater  is  formed  by 
the  projection  of  a  point  of  land  giving  the  place  its 
name  of  Ponta  Delgada,  the  "  sharp  point."  Out  in 
front  there  is  said  to  be  no  known  land  between  it 
and  the  South  Pole,  and  hence  the  need  of  the  pro- 
tective breakwater. 

The  island  of  St.  Michael's  covers  about  two  hun- 
dred and  twenty-four  square  miles,  rising  into  a  cen- 
tral mountain  range  stretching  from  east  to  west 
and  culminating  in  the  central  Serra  d'Agoa  da  Pau. 
These  mountains  have  a  rich  and  wooded  appearance, 
their  flanks  falling  gradually  off  to  the  sea  all 
around,  but  presenting  the  finest  scenery  in  the  bold 
western  cliffs  which  culminate  in  the  Serra  Gorda, 
1574  feet  high.  There  are  numerous  hot  springs  in 


THE  WESTERN  ISLANDS  21 

the  island,  and  vapor  issues  from  various  crevices, 
particularly  in  the  Valley  of  the  Furnas,  near  the 
western  verge,  where  there  are  boiling  fountains, 
spouting  up  in  jets,  dissolving  into  clouds  of  steam. 
Some  of  these  hot  springs  have  valuable  medicinal 
qualities,  and  this  with  the  balmy  climate  has  made 
the  island  a  popular  health  resort  Among  its 
products  is  tea,  which  is  grown  for  the  Lisbon  market, 
whither  a  good  deal  is  sent.  Ponta  Delgada,  the 
capital,  has  about  sixteen  thousand  population,  and 
is  a  resort  for  many  vessels,  mostly  fishermen  and 
tramp  steamers  coming  for  salt  and  coal,  with  mail 
boats  arriving  twice  a  month  from  Portugal  and 
also  steamers  crossing  to  and  from  the  Mediter- 
ranean, although  it  is  not  regarded  as  being  as  con* 
venient  a  port  of  call  as  Horta.  The  two  prominent 
buildings  from  the  water  view  are  a  huge  yellow 
prison,  and  the  white  cathedral  with  a  heavy  square 
tower.  There  are  a  couple  of  quays,  and  the 
churches  seem  to  have  all  been  built  of  basalt  cov- 
ered with  pinkish  stucco.  A  picturesque  triple  arch 
built  in  1785,  which  is  the  entrance  to  the  quays,  has 
behind  it  the  Praca  or  public  square,  on  which  fronts 
the  cathedral  or  "  Matriz,"  as  it  is  called,  built  dur- 
ing the  reign  of  King  Manuel,  the  son-in-law  of 
Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  and  the  patron  of  the  noted 
navigator  Vasco  da  Gama,  who  carried  the  Por- 
tuguese flag  to  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  then  known 
world.  There  is  also  a  peaceful  and  most  inoffen- 


22  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

sive  looking  semi-ruinous  old  fort  that  may  have 
been  built  in  that  heroic  time.  At  the  end  of  the 
square  opposite  the  cathedral  is  the  ancient  Town 
Hall,  bearing  the  Moorish  coat-of-arms,  and  between 
them  is  the  fashionable  promenade.  Low  shops  with 
red-tiled  roofs  border  the  square,  and  on  these  roofs 
are  usually  spread  to  dry  the  bags  of  coffee  coming 
from  Brazil,  which  provide  much  trade.  A  liber- 
ally supplied  fountain  pours  out  its  copious  jets  in 
the  centre  of  the  square,  and  here  the  populace  get 
their  drinking  water  in  all  kinds  of  casks  and  other 
vessels.  The  houses  of  the  spreading  town  are 
usually  built  in  gardens,  so  that  the  place  is  a  mass 
of  luxuriant  vegetation,  some  of  the  gardens  being 
famed  for  their  growth  of  fruits  and  flowers.  Thus 
Ponta  Delgada  is  attractive  as  well  as  antique,  and 
it  adds  to  the  picturesque  beauties  so  bountifully 
displayed  throughout  these  pleasant  islands. 

MADEIRA. 

The  group  of  the  Madeira  islands  is  nearer  the 
African  coast,  about  five  hundred  miles  southeast 
from  St.  Michael's  in  the  Azores,  and  three  hundred 
and  sixty-five  miles  from  Africa,  in  latitude  32° 
north  and  longitude  17°  west;  and  this  group  is  also 
an  appanage  of  Portugal.  The  characteristics  are 
much  similar  to  the  Azores,  but  the  group  is  more 
compact,  the  chief  island  being  Madeira,  about 
thirty  miles  long  and  thirteen  miles  wide  in  the  ex- 


MADEIRA  23 

treme  breadth,  its  bold  wooded  shores  naturally 
givmg  the  original  name,  Materia,  meaning  "  wood." 
The  smaller  island  of  Porto  Santo  is  about  twenty- 
five  miles  to  the  northeast,  and  in  the  southeastern 
offing  are  three  rather  spacious  but  practically  un- 
inhabited rocks  called  the  Desertes,  these  being  con- 
spicuous objects  in  the  sea  view  from  Funchal  on 
the  southern  coast,  which  is  the  capital,  and  port  of 
call  for  many  vessels  bound  to  the  Mediterranean. 
The  Madeira  group  embraces  about  five  hundred 
square  miles  of  surface  and  has  160,000  population, 
the  submarine  telegraph  ling  from  Lisbon  to  Brazil 
being  laid  through  it. 

Madeira  island  is  traversed  from  east  to  west  by 
a  mountain  chain,  rising  generally  to  about  4000 
feet  elevation,  forming  a  substantial  backbone,  but 
cut  down  by  various  deep  ravines  which  penetrate 
the  ridge  from  both  coasts.  The  highest  summit, 
Pico  Eurvo,  rises  6100  feet  in  the  centre  of  the 
island,  and  several  adjacent  summits  of  the  ridge 
are  but  little  lower  in  elevation.  The  narrowness 
and  startling  depth  of  the  ravines,  the  loftiness  of 
the  rugged  peaks  towering  above,  the  many  beautiful 
sea  vistas  and  bold  coast  precipices,  make  scenes  of 
striking  grandeur  and  picturesque  beauty  that  con- 
stantly change  to  the  eye  of  the  moving  tourist.  The 
high  ridges  between  the  ravines  mostly  terminate 
in  lofty  headlands  of  dark  basalt,  falling  off  pre- 
cipitously to  the  sea,  and  some  rising  almost  two 


24  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

thousand  feet.  Thus  much  of  the  coast  is  bounded, 
the  northern  side,  having  been  most  exposed  to«the 
sea  erosion,  displaying  the  wilder  scenery  and  hav- 
ing bolder  precipices  than  the  southern  shores.  Some 
of  the  deep  valleys  on  the  northern  side  still  grow 
fine  trees,  but  on  the  southern  slope  little  is  left  of 
the  original  forest  giving  the  island  its  name.  The 
eastern  extremity  of  the  island  is  an  elongated,  nar- 
row and  comparatively  low  promontory,  with  sandy 
adjuncts  known  as  the  "  Fossil  Bed,"  and  upon  an 
inlet  off  this  promontory  is  Madeira's  only  lighthouse, 
having  a  flashing  light  visible  for  twenty-five  miles  to 
approaching  vessels. 

Tradition  indicated  that  the  wandering  Pho> 
nician  mariners  first  discovered  Madeira  very  long 
ago,  and  Pliny  mentions  the  Purple  or  Mauretanian 
islands,  which  may  have  been  this  group.  Prior  to 
the  fourteenth  century  the  Portuguese  found  them, 
and  there  is  a  romantic  story  of  two  eloping  lovers 
fleeing  from  England  to  France  in  1346,  who  were 
driven  far  southward  by  a  violent  storm  and  cast  on 
the  coast  of  the  uninhabited  Madeira,  at  a  place 
afterward  given  the  name  Machico,  after  the  fleeing 
Romeo,  whose  name  was  Robert  Machin.  This 
episode  seems  to  have  given  Portugal  the  idea  of 
taking  possession,  and  while  without  population 
then,  they  are  considered  to  now  be  too  densely 
peopled  in  relation  to  the  amount  of  cultivable  sur- 
face, which  is  comparatively  small.  A  vast  amount 


MADEIRA  25 

of  labor  has  been  expended  upon  the  soil,  partly  in 
erecting  stout  walls  to  prevent  its  being  washed  away 
by  the  torrential  rains,  and  also  in  building  up  spa- 
cious terraces  to  lessen  the  steep  slopes.  Numerous 
water  courses  have  been  constructed  to  provide 
a  comprehensive  system  of  irrigation,  without  which 
the  island  could  not  produce  a  hundredth  part  of  its 
present  yield.  The  rocky  character,  elevation  and 
steep  inclination  of  the  higher  parts  of  the  island 
are  a  bar  to  all  successful  tillage.  The  chief  access 
to  the  interior,  which  is  obstructed  by  the  many  deep 
ravines,  is  obtained  by  a  road  constructed  around 
the  entire  coast,  that  in  many  places  displays  most 
picturesque  scenery,  the  route  being  often  between 
lofty  cliffs,  or  along  the  front  of  precipices  over- 
hanging the  deep  blue  sea. 

•  The  approach  to  Funchal  on  the  southern  coast 
is  beautiful.  The  town  of  white  houses  with  red- 
tiled  roofs,  tier  above  tier,  spreads  upon  the  curving 
shore  and  slopes  of  a  large  bay,  being  backed  by  an 
imposing  amphitheatre  of  lofty  mountains.  It  is 
irregularly  built,  with  narrow,  winding  streets,  and 
out  in  front  projects  an  old  castle  commanding  the 
roadstead  in  the  ancient  days,  perched  on  the  top 
of  the  steep  black  basaltic  cliff  called  the  Loo  Rock, 
which  is  surrounded  by  the  sea  at  high  water.  Ris- 
ing above  and  behind  the  town,  numerous  country 
houses  with  terraced  gardens  and  vineyards  adorn 
the  slopes,  with  occasional  patches  of  sugar  cane, 


26  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

giving  attractions  to  the  pleasant  landscape,  while 
among  these  on  an  eminence  is  a  larger  fortress  of 
more  modern  build,  that  is  the  chief  defence.  The 
harbor  is  poor,  however;  vessels  have  to  lie  in  an 
open  anchorage,  passengers  are  taken  off  in  boats 
and  cargo  is  lightered ;  and  when  the  wind  blows 
freshly  from  the  south,  they  risk  being  driven  ashore 
unless  they  slip  their  cables  and  put  out  to  sea. 
There  is  ample  protection,  however,  from  other 
winds.  The  entire  produce  of  the  island,  mostly 
wine,  sugar  and  fruits,  intended  for  export,  is 
shipped  from  Funchal.  The  wine  is  chiefly  the 
Madeira,  and  known  in  the  trade  as  "  London 
particular,"  but  this  wine  trade  has  declined  in 
recent  years.  There  have  been  gathered  in  Funchal 
a  population  of  about  twenty  thousand,  and  upon 
landing  here,  as  in  other  Portuguese  ports,  the 
traveller  is  introduced  to  the  surprising  mysteries  of 
the  Portuguese  currency.  The  unit  of  account  is 
the  reis  (ray),  about  the  value  of  one  mill  of  Ameri- 
can money,  nominally,  but  owing  to  the  depreciation 
of  the  currency  since  the  national  bankruptcy  of 
1892,  the  disappearance  of  gold  and  o*f  most  silver 
coins,  and  the  excess  of  paper,  the  actual  value  is 
even  less.  The  visitor  is  startled  by  a  hotel  bill 
based  on  three  thousand  to  four  thousand  reis  per 
day,  and  tips  requiring  one  to  two  hundred  reis, 
but  when  it  is  all  ciphered  out  in  the  American 
equivalent  the  actual  financial  damage  done  is  about 


MADEIRA  27 

the  same  as  elsewhere  in  Europe.  One  thousand 
reis  make  one  milrei,  which  is  popularly  the  dollar, 
and  was  the  chief  coin,  when  they  circulated. 

The  methods  of  Funchal  are  somewhat  primitive. 
Wheel  carriages  are  scarce,  and  goods  are  trans- 
ported either  on  the  backs  of  mules,  a  necessity  on 
account  of  the  steep  mountain  paths,  or  on  sledges 
drawn  by  bullocks,  while  the  common  people  carry 
heavy  burdens  on  the  head  and  shoulders.  The 
visitor  upon  landing  at  the  stone  steps  of  the  old 
breakwater,  which  extends  out  to  a  rock  so  as  to 
partially  protect  the  harbor,  is  taken  upon  an  observa- 
tion tour  around  the  town.  This  is  done  on  a  low 
sled  with  cushioned  seats,  drawn  by  a  pair  of  bul- 
locks, without  reins,  the  driver  being  loud-voiced 
and  frequently  using  a  prodding  stick.  He  also  has 
a  bunch  of  greasy  rags  which  he  throws  under  the 
sled  runners  as  a  lubricant  when  the  friction  upon 
the  stone  pavement  becomes  too  harsh.  Behind  the 
town  a  funicular  railway  climbs  the  mountain-side  to 
the  place  of  grand  outlook  above.  When  returning 
from  the  ride,  the  sled  without  the  bullocks  glides 
like  a  toboggan  for  about  two  miles  down  the 
slippery  stones  of  the  steep  road,  thus  making  a 
rapid  and  sometimes  sensational  descent. 

The  equable  climate  has  made  Madeira  a  favorite 
resort  for  invalids,  and  its  merit  is  warmly  praised, 
Sir  James  Clark,  a  celebrated  English  authority, 
saying,  "  The  climate  of  Madeira  is  the  finest  in  the 


28  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

northern  hemisphere,"  because  of  the  mildness  of 
the  winter  and  the  coolness  of  the  summer.  Al- 
though these  islands  are  of  volcanic  origin,  and  are 
the  summits  of  very  lofty  mountains  having  their 
bases  in  an  extremely  deep  ocean,  these  Madeira 
volcanoes  were  long  ago  extinct,  there  being  at  the 
present  day  neither  live  craters  nor  smoking  crevices. 
They  were  built  up  by  the  emission  of  material  from 
craters  long  ago,  and  by  upheavals  rising  thousands 
of  feet,  but  these  geological  processes  ceased  in  the 
distant  past. 

THE    PEAK    OF    TENERIFFE* 

The  most  extensive  of  the  groups  of  islands  out- 
lying  from  the  Mediterranean  entrance  are  the 
supposed  partly  mythical  "  Fortunate  Islands "  of 
the  ancients,  the  Canaries,  which  are  off  the  African 
coast  some  distance  to  the  southward.  There  are 
thirteen  in  the  group,  seven  being  large  islands,  and 
the  others  mainly  rocks.  With  an  aggregate  surface 
of  over  twenty-eight  hundred  square  miles,  this 
archipelago  has  a  population  of  350,000,  and  here 
was  originally  found  the  canary  bird  which  has  been 
so  universally  domesticated  by  all  civilized  nations. 
The  nearest  of  the  group  to  the  African  coast, 
Fuerteventura  Island,  is  distant  about  fifty  miles, 
and  the  largest  of  the  islands,  Teneriffe,  is  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  miles  south-southeast  from  Madeira. 
The  archipelago  is  in  latitude  27°  to  29°  north,  and 


THE  PEAK  OF  TENERIFFE  29 

13°  to  18°  longitude  west.  The  ancient  ideas  of 
these  "  Fortunate  Islands,"  believed  to  be  the  Home 
of  the  Blessed,  were  put  into  a  sort  of  form  by  both 
Plutarch  and  Ptolemy,  such  knowledge  as  then  ex- 
isted coming  from  the  reports  of  the  wandering 
Phoenician  mariners.  Pliny  mentions  "  Canaria, 
so  called  from  the  multitude  of  dogs  of  great  size," 
and  "  Vivaria,  taking  its  name  from  the  perpetual 
snow  and  covered  with  clouds,"  from  which  was 
derived  the  name  of  Teneriffe.  In  1334,  they  were 
rediscovered,  and  Spain  took  possession,  still  con- 
trolling them.  Like  the  other  groups,  these  islands 
are  the  summits  of  mountains,  rising  from  an  ocean 
of  great  depth,  and  the  two  largest  are  Teneriffe, 
covering  877  square  miles,  and  the  Grand  Canary, 
with  a  surface  of  718  square  miles.  The  chiefly 
visited  island  is  Teneriffe,  which  is  about  sixty  miles 
long  and  has  a  breadth  in  the  widest  part  of  thirty 
miles,  although  not  over  one-seventh  of  the  surface 
can  be  cultivated.  A  mountain  chain  traverses  it  in 
the  direction  of  greatest  length,  and  in  the  middle 
of  the  broadest  part  of  the  island  rises  its  celebrated 
peak,  which  has  world-wide  celebrity. 

The  Pico  de  Teyde,  the  famous  Peak  of  Teneriffe, 
with  its  ample  supports  and  outlying  space,  occupies 
two-thirds  of  the  island.  It  has  a  double  top,  the 
highest  summit,  El  Piton,  rising  12,200  feet,  and  the 
other,  Chehorra,  connected  with  the  first  by  a  short 
narrow  ridge,  elevated  9880  feet.  Both  are  orifices 


30  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

in  the  same  grand  dome  of  trachyte,  though  neither 
reaches  the  line  in  that  latitude  of  perpetual  snow, 
but  there  is  a  natural  cavern  about  11,000  feet  above 
the  sea,  where  snow  is  preserved  all  the  year;  and 
snow  remains  for  about  four  months  on  the  upper 
parts  of  the  summits.  The  Peak  rises  from  what 
are  known  as  the  Pumice  Stone  Plains,  and  the  ad- 
jacent ridge  with  the  volcanic  cone  above,  resembles 
in  aspect  a  colossal  fortress  with  circular  ramparts 
and  an  enormous  ditch.  The  immense  ramparts  en- 
circling the  cone  are  about  eight  miles  in  diameter, 
and  in  some  places  tower  fully  five  hundred  feet  above 
the  ditch.  These  rocks  are  of  very  old  construc- 
tion, and  the  more  modern  cone  is  a  pile  of  ashes, 
pumice  and  lava,  that  has  been  thrown  up  during 
more  recent  centuries  from  an  ancient  crater,  but 
this  famous  peak  has  been  practically  quiescent  for 
over  two  hundred  years.  Both  El  Piton  and 
Chehorra  have  craters  on  their  summits  from  which 
now  issue  steam  and  a  little  sulphurous  vapor,  as 
gentle  reminders  of  the  active  past.  The  El  Piton 
crator  is  about  seventy  feet  deep  and  three  hundred 
feet  across.  Chehorra's  crater,  at  a  lower  level,  is 
much  larger,  being  four  thousand  feet  in  diameter 
and  over  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet  deep.  There  is 
no  account  in  history  of  serious  eruptions  from  either 
peak,  but  in  1795  there  was  an  outpouring  of  lava 
from  vents  at  lower  elevations  on  the  eastern  side  of 
the  mountain,  though  since  1798  no  eruption  had 


THE  PEAK  OF  TENERIFFE  31 

occurred  until  1909.  In  June  there  was  a  slight 
earthquake  shock  on  the  western  coast,  while  in 
ISTovember  there  were  more  shocks,  and  lava  poured 
out  from  five  vents  for  several  days,  causing  alarm 
among  the  people. 

Under  shadow  of  the  enormous  peak,  on  the 
southern  coast  is  the  chief  town  and  capital  of 
Teneriffe  —  Santa  Cruz  de  Santiago  —  where  the 
Spanish  Governor-General  of  the  Canaries  resides. 
It  is  defended  by  several  batteries  on  the  edge  of  the 
sea,  and  probably  the  greatest  fame  the  place  has 
ever  achieved  was  the  one  honor  of  defeating  an  at- 
tack by  Admiral  Lord  Kelson,  the  famous  sea-fighter 
of  England,  in  1797,  on  which  occasion  he  lost  his 
arm  by  a  shot  from  one  of  these  batteries.  Several 
English  flags  then  captured  still  hang  in  the  church. 
The  view  of  the  town  and  the  approach  are  superb. 
Humboldt  has  written  that  he  "  never  beheld  a  pros- 
pect more  varied,  more  attractive,  more  harmonious, 
in  the  distribution  of  the  masses  of  verdure,  and  of 
rocks,  than  the  western  coast  of  Teneriffe."  The 
date  palms  are  an  impressive  feature  of  the  land- 
scape. 

During  half  the  year,  from  April  to  October,  a 
northern  or  northeastern  wind  of  more  or  less 
strength  blows  upon  these  islands  from  ten  o'clock 
in  the  morning  until  five  or  six  o'clock  in  the  after- 
noon. During  the  summer  this  colder  wind  produces 
a  dense  stratum  of  sea-cloud,  about  a  thousand  feet 


32  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

thick,  its  under  side  being  elevated  three  thousand 
feet  above  the  sea  level  at  Teneriffe.  '  This  cloud, 
however,  only  covers  the  sea  and  does  not  reach  up 
to  the  higher  mountains  inland,  which  at  the  same 
time  have  on  every  side  a  cloud  stratum  of  their 
own  about  five  hundred  feet  thick,  its  lower  surface 
being  twenty-five  hundred  feet  above  the  sea  level. 
Between  the  two  distinct  cloud  strata,  there  is 
usually  a  narrow  gap,  through  which  the  visitor 
on  a  vessel  approaching  the  island  may  obtain  a 
glimpse  of  the  mass  of  the  mountain,  while  above 
the  higher  cloud  rises  the  cone-like  summit  in  the 
clear  air,  sharply  outlined  against  the  sky.  The 
visitor  ascending  the  mountain  when  these  clouds 
are  formed,  looks  down  upon  their  white,  fleecy 
masses  which  conceal  the  sea  and  distant  islands  of 
the  group,  excepting  where  the  mountain  tops  may 
pierce  through.  The  view  from  El  Piton,  when  no 
clouds  intervene,  is  magnificent,  and  most  extensive, 
including  the  whole  Canary  archipelago  and  display- 
ing a  horizon  one  hundred  and  forty  miles  distant, 
as  the  mountain  rises  nearly  two  and  one-third  miles. 
The  Island  of  Madeira,  and  the  African  coast,  how- 
ever, are  beyond  the  range  of  vision.  In  1856, 
Charles  Piazzi  Smyth,  the  British  astronomer,  con- 
structed his  observatory  and  placed  his  telescope  on 
the  Peak,  at  Alta  Vista,  10,700  feet  above  the  sea. 
Here  he  made  various  observations  and,  as  he  said, 
verified  Newton's  surmise  of  years  before,  that  a 


THE  PEAK  OF  TENERIFFE  33 

"most  serene  and  quiet  air  may  perhaps  be  found 
on  the  tops  of  the  highest  mountains,  above  the 
grosser  clouds." 

The  Peak  of  Teneriffe  is  the  highest  mountain  in 
the  world  which  rises  directly  from  the  sea,  and  one 
of  the  noted  displays  unfolded  by  its  ascent  is  its 
elongated  shadow,  when  the  observer  is  able  to  get 
the  view  in  a  clear  morning  at  sunrise.  The  sun 
then  comes  up  over  the  dry  African  desert  through 
an  atmosphere  of  unrivalled  clearness  and  his  rays 
as  they  flood  the  broad  expanse  of  the  Atlantic  meet 
their  only  obstruction  in  this  mighty  mountain.  A 
traveller  who  was  thus  fortunate  describes  the  view, 
having  got  to  the  summit  before  the  dawn.  He 
writes  that  in  the  clear  gray  light  preceding  the 
dawn,  the  whole  of  the  islands  of  the  Canary  group 
were  visible  with  more  distinctness  than  after  the 
sun  had  risen,  while  fifty  miles  distance  in  such  an 
atmosphere  seemed  almost  nothing,  so  that  the 
Grand  Canary  to  the  eastward  and  Los  Palmas 
looked  close  below,  and  one  was  almost  tempted  to 
throw  a  stone  upon  Gomera,  thirty  miles  away. 
Then  the  sun  appeared  and  slowly  rose,  so  that 
turning  the  eyes  westward,  there  in  long  dim  out- 
line the  gigantic  shadow  just  crossing  the  northern 
point  of  Gomera  was  laid  across  the  sea,  stretching 
to  the  horizon  and  seeming  to  extend  fully  two  hun- 
dred miles.  The  Peak's  shape  is  clearly  seen, 

though  shadowy,  but  each  minute  as  the  sun  rises 
VOL.  1—3 


34  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

higher  and  the  rays  grow  stronger,  the  reality  in- 
creases.    The  shadow  seems  to  lift  itself  up  from 
the  sea,  on  which  at  first  it  lay,  until,  a  quarter  of 
an  hour  after  the  sunrise,  there  apparently  stands  be- 
side us  another  peak,  not  rose-colored  as  the  real 
one,  but  dark  and  threatening,  seeming  substantial, 
yet  showing  through  it  far  away  the  island  and  the 
clouds  that  hang  above  the  sea.     The  flood  of  light 
increases,  but  this  lessens  the  clearness  of  the  dis- 
tant  view,   while  bringing  out   each  object  on  the 
little  island  beneath,  disclosing  each  house  and  tree, 
and  displaying  all  around  the  clear-cut,  sea-washed 
boundaries  of  Teneriffe  itself,  with  its  sixty  miles  of 
length,  and  every  creek,  ravine  and  coast-headland 
depicted  as  clearly  as  on  a  map,  but  here  and  there 
the  forming  clouds  begin  to  break  the  outline,  though 
the  summit  from  which  one  looks  is  nine  thousand 
feet  above  them.     Upon  the  summit  crater,  too,  this 
morning    light    has    splendid    effect.     The    delicate 
yellow  of  the  sulphur  fumes  mingles  with  pale  pink, 
both  softened  by  a  creamy  white,  making  a  beauti- 
fully chaste  coloring  in  striking  contrast  with  the 
miles  of  rugged  dark  brown  lava  from  which  the 
crater-surmounted  cone  springs  several  hundred  feet 
below.     Jets  of  hot  steam  puff  from  the  sulphurous 
cracks,  and  here  are  cooked  the  eggs  for  breakfast 
in  a  steam-heated  oven  ready  at  hand  among  the 
lava  beds  and  supplied  by  fires  perhaps  at  lower 
levels  than  those  which  prepare  the  breakfasts  of 


THE  PEAK  OF  TENERIFFE  35 

the  people  down  in  Santa  Cruz.  The  view  is  sub- 
lime and  the  morning  shadow  of  the  great  mountain 
over  the  unobstructed  sea  is  probably  the  greatest 
that  the  world  discloses. 

The  smallest  island  of  the  Canary  archipelago  is 
Hierro  or  Ferro,  and  it  is  the  most  westerly  of  the 
group,  shaped  somewhat  like  a  crescent  and  located 
ninety-two  miles  west-southwest  of  Teneriffe.  The 
high  and  steep  rocks  bounding  its  shores  give 
the  coast  line  an  impressive  appearance.  Ferro  was 
best  known  to  the  world  in  earlier  times  as  the  point 
of  the  "  first  meridian,"  ancient  European  geog- 
raphers taking  it  as  the  initial  measure  for  longitude, 
as  it  was  the  most  westerly  land  they  knew.  The 
longitude  they  assigned  to  Ferro  was,  however, 
too  far  west  in  the  original  maps.  It  is  interesting 
to  recall  that  Ptolemy  made  Fuerteventura,  the 
nearest  of  the  Canaries  to  Africa,  his  first  meridian, 
and  that  this  island  was  originally  adopted  by 
Mercator,  but  the  latter  afterward  changed  to  Corvo, 
in  the  Azores,  because  he  there  more  nearly  ap- 
proached the  true  indication  of  the  magnetic  needle. 
The  Dutch,  when  they  became  a  .maritime  power, 
adopted  the  Peak  of  Teneriffe  for  the  first  meridian. 
In  1630,  Cardinal  Richelieu  called  a  congress  of 
scientists  who  considered  the  subject,  and  they 
adopted  the  meridian  of  Ferro  for  the  first  meridian, 
it  being  officially  promulgated  by  Louis  XIII  in 
April,  1634.  Thus  the  "longitude  of  Ferro," 


36  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

formally  established,  came  into  almost  universal  use, 
continuing  until  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth 
century,  when  England,  coming  to  the  front  as  the 
leading  sea  power,  through  Nelson's  victories  over 
the  French  and  Spanish  navies,  adopted  Greenwich 
for  the  first  meridian. 

IBEEIA. 

The  traveller  crossing  the  Atlantic,  approaching  the 
Mediterranean  entrance  from  the  Azores,  usually 
sights  the  first  land  in  the  bold  cliffs  of  Cape  St. 
Vincent,  Portugal,  the  southwestern  buttress  of  the 
Iberian  peninsula.  This  was  the  Promontorium 
Sacrum  of  the  ancients  and  a  powerful  light  guides 
the  mariner  past  it.  Steep  and  almost  inaccessible 
cliffs  rise  up  from  the  sea  to  form  this  massive 
buttress,  which  is  the  abrupt  termination  of  the 
mountain  range  of  the  Serra  de  Monchigue.  The 
lighthouse  is  on  the  brow  of  the  promontory,  standing 
amid  the  ruins  of  an  ancient  convent.  The  neigh- 
boring coasts,  however,  are  generally  low  and  sandy. 
Cape  Roca,  to  the  northward,  outside  of  Lisbon  and 
the  mouth  of  the  Tagus,  is,  however,  the  most 
western  land  of  Portugal,  protruding  somewhat  be- 
yond Cape  St.  Vincent.  This  is  ancient  Lusitania, 
a  noted  region,  first  colonized  by  the  Pho?nicians, 
who  seem  to  have  covered  almost  all  the  Portuguese 
and  Spanish  coasts  in  the  early  days.  Then  it  was 
conquered  by  the  Carthaginians;  overrun  by  the 


IBERIA  37 

Vandals  and  Visigoths;  occupied  by  the-  Moors  in 
the  eighth  century;  and  in  the  eleventh  century 
made  a  fief  of  Count  Henry  of  Burgundy,  which 
began  the  active  history  of  the  county,  afterward 
the  kingdom  of  Portugal.  The  name  came  from  its 
capital,  then  called  by  the  Latin  title  of  Portus  Cole, 
though  this  city  has  since  been  known  by  its 
popular  name  of  O  Porto,  or  "  the  port."  Grow- 
ing to  great  power,  Portugal  divided  with  Spain  the 
colonization  of  the  world  in  the  fifteenth  century, 
though  King  John  II  made  the  mistake  in  1485  of 
dismissing  Columbus  as  a  visionary.  John  outfitted 
the  expedition  of  the  famous  Vasco  da  Gama,  how- 
ever, who  during  the  subsequent  reign  discovered  the 
sea  route  to  India.  It  was  during  the  reign  of  John 
II,  in  1494,  that  the  pope  issued  his  famous  bull, 
dividing  the  undiscovered  parts  of  the  world  between 
the  Spaniards  and  the  Portuguese.  Emmanuel  the 
Fortunate  succeeded  John,  and  then  Vasco  da  Gama 
made  his  important  discoveries  in  the  East  Indies, 
and  Pedro  Cabral  found  Brazil,  while  on  his  way 
westward  to  find  India,  Amerigo  Vespucci  discov- 
ered the  Rio  Plata  and  Paraguay;  and  Portugal 
thus  secured  vast  conquests  in  the  East  Indies,  China 
and  South  America. 

Before  the  days  of  Columbus  the  Portuguese 
Prince  Henry,  who  was  called  "  The  Navigator," 
on  account  of  his  zealous  encouragement  of  ocean 
exploration,  had  founded  on  Cape  St.  Vincent,  the 


38  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

town  of  Sagres,  with  shipyards  and  a  maritime 
school,  which  became  the  headquarters  of  the  Portu- 
guese exploring  voyagers.  To  the  eastward  was  de- 
veloped in  the  seventeenth  century,  the  port  of 
Lagos  on  the  coast,  and  it  is  still  an  active  seaport 
with  the  old  fortifications  of  that  time.  The  great- 
est fame  of  Cape  St.  Vincent,  however,  comes  from 
the  naval  battle  fought  in  the  adjacent  waters, 
February  14,  1797,  when  Admiral  Jervis,  ably 
seconded  by  Nelson,  defeated  the  Spanish  fleet.  In 
this  engagement  the  British  Mediterranean  squadron 
of  twenty-four  vessels  fought  the  enemy's  fleet  of 
thirty-nine,  almost  annihilating  it,  and  capturing 
four  of  the  largest  ships.  For  this  victory,  Jervis 
was  created  Earl  St.  Vincent.  To  the  eastward  of 
the  cape,  the  steamer  skirts  the  southern  shore  of 
Portugal  along  the  province  of  Algarve,  a  region 
growing  cork  trees,  fruit  and  wines,  and  having 
various  ancient  villages  on  the  shallow  harbors  in- 
dented in  the  coast,  that  are  still  showing  evidence 
of  their  Moorish  origin.  Beyond  the  shore  sweeps 
around  the  wide  circle  formed  by  the  Bay  of  Cadiz, 
and  here  flows  in  at  the  boundary  between  Portugal 
and  Spain,  the  grand  river  Guadiana,  the  Moorish 
Wadi  Ana,  the  ancient  Anas  of  the  Romans,  which 
follows  a  course  of  five  hundred  miles  from  its 
source  in  the  elevated  and  sterile  Spanish  plateau  of 
La  Mancha,  through  Estramadura,  west  and  south- 
west to  the  sea.  La  Mancha  is  derived  from  an 


IBERIA  39 

Arab  word  meaning-  the  "  desert."  The  Guadiana 
breaks  out  of  the  mountain  ranges  of  the  Sierra 
Morena  in  a  series  of  foaming  rapids,  so  that  it  is 
only  navigable  for  about  forty  miles  of  its  lower 
course.  On  its  way,  the  river  passes  the  famous 
frontier  fortress  of  Badajos,  known  as  the  "  key  of 
Portugal,"  scarred  by  many  battles  and  sieges,  its 
last  capture  being  by  Wellington  in  1812,  who  took 
it  from  the  French,  to  whom  it  had  been  surrendered 
by  treachery  the  previous  year. 

The  Spanish  coast  to  the  eastward  of  the  Guadi- 
ana is  generally  flat,  and  at  a  short  distance  the 
Rio  Tinto  enters  the  Atlantic  in  a  region  of  the 
liveliest  historical  interest.  On  the  eastern  river 
bank  is  the  magnificent  little  white  village  shining  in 
the  sunlight — •  Palos  de  la.  Frontera  —  from  which 
Christopher  Columbus  sailed  August  3,  1492,  with 
his  three  little  vessels,  the  Santa  Maria,  the  Pinta, 
and  the  Nina,  on  the  voyage  that  discovered 
America ;  and  here  he  landed  on  his  return,  March 
15,  1493.  Cortes  also  landed  at  Palos  in  1528,  re- 
turning from  his  conquest  of  Mexico.  Just  below 
the  village  is  the  Convent  of  Santa  Maria  la  Rabida. 
It  was  here  that  Columbus  retired  in  1485  in 
despair  after  John  II  of  Portugal  had  declined  to 
be  his  patron,  and  the  prior  of  the  monastery,  Peres 
de  Marchena,  who  had  been  Queen  Isabella's  con- 
fessor, subsequently  took  interest  in  his  plans  and 
got  the  Queen  to  consider  the  arrangement  for  his 


40  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

voyage,  induced  by  the  hope  of  spreading  Chris- 
tianity in  the  new  world  to  be  discovered.  The 
contract  was  signed  at  Santa  Fe,  near  Granada, 
April  17,  1492,  the  Queen  providing  the  cost  of  the 
expedition,  about  $7000,  out  of  which  Columbus  got 
a  salary  of  $320.  The  broad  river  Odiel  comes  into 
the  Rio  Tinto  opposite  La  Eabida,  and  a  little  way 
up  this  stream  is  Huelva,  the  chief  town  of  the 
neighborhood,  with  a  spacious  harbor,  the  shipping 
port  of  the  famous  Rio  Tinto  copper  mines,  that  have 
an  output  approximating  a  value  of  $20,000,000 
annually.  Here  is  preserved  the  log  book  made  by 
Columbus  on  his  voyage,  his  ships  having  been  out- 
fitted at  the  port,  and  in  1892  the  four  hundredth 
anniversary  of  the  event  was  marked  by  unveiling  a 
colossal  monument  by  Velasquez.  The  Rio  Tinto 
mines  are  about  fifty  miles  up  that  river  and  are 
among  the  most  valuable  in  existence.  The  Phoe- 
nicians and  the  Romans  worked  them,  but  they  were 
but  little  used  until  1872,  when  a  syndicate  of  bank- 
ers bought  them  from  the  Spanish  Government  for 
$20,000,000.  They  occupy  a  large  area,  producing 
ores  of  iron  pyrites  containing  a  large  proportion  of 
sulphur  and  three  to  four  per  cent  of  copper.  To 
the  northwestward  is  another  group  of  similar 
character,  the  mines  of  Tharsis.  These  Rio  Tinto 
mines  -employ  about  ten  thousand  workmen,  are 
served  by  sixty  miles  of  railway  both  above  and  below. 


THE  GREAT  RIVER  41 

ground,  and  produce  annually  twenty  thousand  tons 
of  copper,  mostly  going  to  England. 

THE  GREAT  RIVER. 

From  the  entrance  of  the  Rio  Tinto,  the  Arenas 
Gordas,  a  chain  of  sand  dunes,  extends  along  the 
Spanish  coast,  which  gradually  curves  southeast 
toward  the  mouth  of  the  broad  Guadalquivir.  Far 
back  into  the  land  stretch  the  marismas  or  salt 
marshes,  with  pastures  where  bulls  for  the  arena  are 
grazed,  and  in  the  dry  time  of  summer  the  surface 
appears  as  a  dark-brown  heath.  Through  this  mo- 
notonous region  the  river  flows  in  three  brazos  or 
branches,  but  the  navigation  has  been  improved 
by  canals  which  shorten  the  distance.  These 
branches  uniting,  the  river  enters  the  ocean,  having 
on  the  northern  side  of  the  entrance  the  village  of 
Bonanza,  named  after  the  chapel  of  the  "  Virgin 
de  la  Bonanza,"  meaning  "  good  weather."  Across 
the  broad  river  mouth  is  the  busy  port  of  San  Lucar 
de  Barrameda,  where  there  are  twenty-five  thou- 
sand people.  Both  of  these  settlements  are  very 
ancient,  and  present  relics  of  Roman  and  even 
earlier  domination.  San  Lucar,  however,  did  not 
grow  much  until  after  the  American  colonization 
began,  and  then  its  trade  expanded.  From  here 
sailed  in  1519  the  Portuguese  mariner  Magellan, 
for  his  journey  of  wonderful  discovery  around  the 


42  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

world.  There  are  outlying  villas  with  orange  groves 
and  palm  trees  and  defensive  forts  protecting  the 
port,  while  upon  the  neighboring  sand-dunes  grow 
the  vines  that  produce  Manzanilla  wine. 

All  of  the  region  upon  which  we  look  in  passing 
the  Guadalquivir  entrance  is  the  famous  Spanish 
province  of  Andalusia,  the  southernmost  district  of 
Spain,  extending  eastward  from  the  Portuguese 
boundary  for  over  three  hundred  miles  along  the 
shores  of  the  Atlantic  and  the  Mediterranean,  and 
having  a  breadth  northward  of  over  one  hundred 
miles.  The  name  was  originally  Vandalusia,  the 
"  land  of  the  Vandals."  Celebrated  for  fertility  and 
picturesque  scenery,  it  is  traversed  throughout  by 
high  mountain  ranges,  enclosing  the  most  beautiful 
valleys.  Upon  its  pastures  are  raised  the  best  horses 
in  Spain,  and  the  most  prized  bulls  for  the  arena 
in  the  Spanish  national  sport  of  bull  fighting.  The 
ranges  of  mountains  that  traverse  the  province  from 
west  to  east  are  the  Sierra  Morena,  along  the  northern 
border,  and  the  higher  mountains  of  Granada  and 
Honda  in  the  southeastern  and  southern  regions,  the 
most  famous  of  these  ranges  being  the  Sierra 
Nevada  of  Granada,  the  "  snowy  mountain,"  the 
highest  in  Spain:  a  chain  over  fifty  miles  long  and 
about  twenty-five  miles  broad,  its  culminating  sum- 
mit being  Mulhacan,  elevated  11,420  feet;  the 
Picacho  de  Veleta  rising  11,385  feet,  with  other 
peaks  exceeding  10,000  feet,  all  having  their  noble 


THE  GREAT  RIVER  43 

crests  above  the  perpetual  snow  line.  Between  these 
mountain  ranges  is  the  valley  of  the  Guadalquivir, 
which  drains  them  through  its  many  affluents  and 
thus  becomes  the  main  river  of  Andalusia.  In  the 
mountain  chains  both  north  and  south  of  it  are  deep 
transverse  valleys  with  rounded  basin-shaped  heads 
or  cirques  among  the  peaks.  The  northern  slope  of 
the  Sierra  Nevada  falls  off  precipitously  toward  the 
river  valley,  making  magnificent  scenery.  The 
Guadalquivir  is  about  three  hundred  and  fifty  miles 
long,  its  vale  having  a  small  upper  basin,  of  con- 
siderable elevation  among  the  mountains,  where  it 
is  formed  by  three  streams  in  Jaen  province,  while 
the  chief  lower  tributary  is  on  its  southern  side,  the 
Jenil,  coming  in  from  Granada.  The  lower  course 
of  the  Guadalquivir  is  through  a  very  broad  valley. 
It  passes  Cordova  and  Seville,  and  then  for  fifty- 
four  miles  to  the  sea,  flows  through  the  lowlands  of 
the  marismas,  a  wide,  level  and  to  large  extent  un- 
healthy deposit  of  alluvium. 

This  river  valley  is  one  of  the  most  ancient  and 
famous  in  Spain.  It  was  the  province  of  Baetica  in 
the  Roman  days,  when  they  called  the  river  the  Bae- 
tis,  and  navigated  it  up  to  Hispalis,  now  Seville,  and 
thence  to  their  more  remote  settlement  of  Corduba 
now  Cordova.  They  found  it  then,  as  now,  the  only 
Spanish  river  which  at  all  seasons  of  the  year  is 
a  full-bodied  stream,  being  fed  in  winter  by  the 
rains,  and  in  summer  by  the  profusely  melting  snows 


44  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

of  the  Sierra  Nevada.  The  Vandals  and  the  Visi- 
goths came,  overpowered  the  Romans,  and  settled  in 
the  fertile  valleys  of  this  noble  river,  the  Visigoths 
holding  it  until  the  beginning  of  the  eighth  century, 
but  in  the  meantime  becoming  enervated  by  too 
close  contact  with  Roman  luxury.  Meanwhile, 
after  the  death  of  Mohammed,  and  the  rise  of  the 
Moslems,  that  new  religion  had  extended  its  won- 
derful power  throughout  the  Mediterranean,  and 
controlled  all  the  African  shores  to  the  Pillars  of 
Hercules.  Anxious  for  further  conquest,  in  711, 
Tarik  crossed  the  strait  at  the  head  of  about  five 
thousand  Moors,  and  with  ease  and  rapidity  ac- 
complished the  overthrow  of  the  Visigoths,  defeat- 
ing Roderick,  "  the  last  of  the  Goths,"  in  a  battle 
near  Jerez  de  la  Frontera  about  fifteen  miles  south- 
east of  San  Lucar,  on  the  Guadalete  river.  This 
town  of  sixty  thousand  people  is  now  one  of  the 
wealthiest  in  Spain,  its  fortune  being  made  from  the 
exportation  of  Sherry  wine,  the  name  coming  from 
Jerez,  which  is  pronounced  "  hereth."  The  battle 
fought  southward  from  the  town  is  said  to  have 
continued  several  days.  The  affix  "de  la  Frontera," 
which  is  placed  on  several  of  these  towns  of  Spain, 
was  given  later,  in  the  fourteenth  century,  when 
they  became  Christian  outposts  in  the  long-pro- 
tracted conflicts  on  the  borders  of  the  Moorish  pos- 
sessions. The  chief  shows  of  Jerez  to-day  are  the 
extensive  Bodegas  where  the  Sherry  wines  are  stored, 


THE  GREAT  RIVER  45 

and  the  vineyards  around  the  place  where  they  are 
grown,  covering  about  three  hundred  square  miles. 

Tarik,  after  his  victory,  overran  the  Guadalquivir 
valley  with  little  opposition,  making  himself  master 
as  far  as  Corduba  and  even  crossing  the  mountains 
beyond  to  Toledo  near  Madrid.  The  full  current 
of  the  river  led  the  Moors  to  name  it  Wadi-el-Kebir, 
or  the  "  Great  River,"  and  this  for  the  subsequent 
five  centuries  was  the  central  province  of  their 
Spanish  possessions.  They  made  the  stream  navi- 
gable for  barges  up  to  Corduba,  which  was  their 
capital,  but  in  the  later  period  of  neglect,  the  lower 
reaches  became  silted  up,  and  it  has  only  recently 
been  canalised  and  deepened  sufficiently  for  vessels 
of  moderate  draft  to  pass  up  to  Seville.  After 
the  invasion  of  Tarik  and  the  Moors  had  established 
themselves  along  the  river,  they  quarrelled,  and 
this  enabled  Abderrahman  I  to  place  his  dynasty 
of  the  Omayyades  in  full  control  of  the  river  in  756. 
It  was  this  prince  who  in  his  constant  warfare  with 
numerous  enemies  was  opposed  by  Charlemagne,  who 
had  sent  an  army  into  Spain  to  help  them.  But  on 
its  return  through  the  Pyrenees,  in  778,  its  rear  guard 
was  almost  annihilated  in  the  famous  battle  of  the 
Pass  of  Roncesvalles,  where  Roland  the  Paladin, 
one  of  the  great  heroes  of  chivalry,  was  slain. 

Thus  began  the  famous  Moorish  dynasty  that  for 
three  centuries  made  the  Guadalquivir  the  chief 
seat  of  Moslem  power  in  Spain,  and  Corduba,  the 


46  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

capital,  its  name  gradually  changing  afterward  to 
Cordova.  The  most  powerful  sovereign  of  this 
family  was  Abderrahman  III,  reigning  in  the  tenth 
century,  who  advanced  his  title  from  Emir  to  Caliph, 
made  Cordova  one  of  the  wealthiest  cities  of  Europe, 
completed  its  noble  mosque,  the  greatest  of  the 
Moorish  era,  and  was  one  of  the  most  potential  rulers 
of  the  then  known  world.  In  his  day  the  "  Great 
River"  is  said  to  have  had  on  its  banks  and  in  its 
extensive  basin,  eight  large  cities,  three  hundred 
towns  and  twelve  thousand  populous  villages,  while 
Cordova  alone  had  two  hundred  thousand  houses  and 
six  hundred  mosques,  and  its  caliph  not  only  con- 
trolled Spain  and  Portugal,  but  through  his  power- 
ful fleets  was  the  master  of  the  entire  shores  of  the 
Mediterranean,  and  the  Atlantic  coasts  of  Europe 
and  Africa.  After  this  caliph's  death,  in  961,  his 
successors  were  weak  men,  and  his  caliphate  split 
into  factions,  so  that  in  the  later  tenth  century  there 
were  three  separate  and  generally  hostile  emirates 
in  the  valley,  with  their  capitals  at  Seville,  Cordova 
and  Granada.  Then  came  the  e*a  of  the  Crusades, 
under  which  the  Christian  dominion  in  Spain  ex- 
panded, so  that  excepting  at  Granada,  most  of  the 
Moorish  power  was  destroyed,  the  whole  lower  river 
being  conquered  and  taken  from  them  in  the  latter 
half  of  the  thirteenth  century.  But  Granada  was 
maintained  as  a  Moorish  stronghold  for  over  two 
centuries  longer  by  the  dynasty  of  the  Nasrides, 


SEVILLE  AND  THE  CID  47 

whose  sovereign,  Mohammed  I,  began  the  Alhambra 
in  the  thirteenth  century.  This  kingdom  had  a 
compact  Moorish  population  in  a  region  easily  de- 
fended by  its  natural  advantages,  and  the  dynasty 
conducted  skillful  diplomacy  as  between  the  Chris- 
tian rulers  of  Spain  and  the  Moors  of  Morocco  and 
the  Mediterranean.  But  Ferdinand  and  Isabella 
began  the  final  war  against  them  in  1481,  and  com- 
pleted the  conquest  of  Granada,  January  2,  1492. 
Since  then  the  Christian  governing  powers  of  Spain 
have  controlled  the  "  Great  River." 

SEVILLE  AND  THE   CID. 

Fifty-four  miles  up  the  river  Guadalquivir,  low- 
lying  on  its  eastern  bank,  is  Seville,  the  capital  of 
Andalusia.  The  tawny  river,  discolored  by  the  vast 
amount  of  alluvium  its  tinged  current  brings  down 
from  the  mountains,  divides  the  city  from  its  suburb 
of  Triana,  on  the  southwestern  bank,  from  time  im- 
memorial the  home  of  the  gypsies,  and  the  location 
of  the  potteries  for  which  Seville  is  noted,  especially 
in  majolica  and  plates  with  metallic  lustre.  The 
legend  is  that  Saints  Justa  and  Rufina,  in  the  early 
Christian  church,  who  were  martyred  because  they 
would  not  sacrifice  to  Venus,  had  here  a  potter's 
shop.  All  the  land  surfaces  are  flat,  but  the  sur- 
rounding district  is  very  fertile,  and  the  people 
proudly  call  it  the  land  of  Maria  Santisima,  while 
.their  houses  are  so  comfortable  that  there  is  an  old 


48  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

German  saying  that  "  He  whom  God  loves  has  a 
house  in  Seville."  The  city  is  generally  a  laby- 
rinth of  narrow  streets,  a  Moorish  heritage,  but  it 
is  relieved  by  many  open  spaces  planted  with  oranges, 
palms  and  other  attractive  trees.  It  is  bright  and 
gay,  and  always  was  popular,  being  regarded  as  pre- 
eminently the  Spanish  "  city  of  the  guitar,  the  fan, 
the  song  and  fandango."  It  has  a  large  representa- 
tion of  the  careless  yet  attractive  Bohemian  class 
of  southern  Spain,  who  are  said  generally  "  to  sleep 
on  the  steps  of  churches,  breakfast  on  a  glass  of 
water,  and  dine  on  an  air  of  the  guitar."  So 
marked  was  its  ancient  fame  that  Dante  in  the  In- 
ferno makes  Odysseus  mention  only  Ceuta  and 
Savilla  as  seen  by  him  when  he  passed  the  Pillars 
of  Hercules.  Like  other  Spanish  cities,  everything 
is  clothed  in  dazzling  white,  the  blanquedor  or 
whitewasher  constantly  laboring  upon  the  walls  of 
the  buildings  and  the  curbs  of  the  streets.  The 
dwellings  are  mostly  low  and  they  follow  the  Moor- 
ish style  of  being  built  around  open  inner  courts  with 
arcaded  borders,  central  fountains  and  marble  pave- 
ments, having  an  awning  above.  The  Seville  sum- 
mers are  very  hot,  but  the  winter  climate  is  delight- 
ful. There  are  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
people  in  Seville  and  during  the  Moorish  domina- 
tion when  at  its  time  of  greatest  prosperity  in  Al- 
Motamid's  reign  in  the  eleventh  century,  it  eclipsed 
Cordova,  which  had  then  declined,  it  had  four 


SEVILLE  AND  THE  CID  49 

hundred  thousand  population,  the  walls  having  a 
circumference  of  ten  miles,  being  pierced  with  twelve 
gates.  A  second  era  of  great  prosperity  came  after 
the  discovery  of  America,  when  Seville  was  one  of 
the  chief  Spanish  ports  and  had  been  given  the 
monopoly  of  the  transatlantic  trade.  The  two  lead- 
ing Spanish  artists  were  born  in  Seville,  Velasquez 
in  1559  and  Murillo  in  1617,  and  it  was  also  the 
birthplace  of  Cardinal  Wiseman  in  1802,  while  in 
the  Roman  days,  when  it  was  a  favorite  home  of  the 
patricians,  three  emperors  were  born  at  Itabica  in 
the  suburbs,  Hadrian,  Trajan  and  Theodosius. 

The  escape  of  Seville  from  the  great  earthquake 
which  demolished  Lisbon,  November  1,  1755,  is  com- 
memorated by  a  procession  on  the  anniversary,  and 
by  a  monument  in  the  chief  public  square,  the 
Plaza  del  Triunfo,  not  far  from  the  river.  Front- 
ing this  square  are  its  two  greatest  buildings,  the 
Cathedral  on  the  northern  and  the  Alcazar  on  the 
southern  side.  The  grand  Cathedral  of  Santa 
Maria,  the  greatest  church  in  the  world  next  to 
St.  Peter's  at  Rome,  has  its  splendid  front,  the 
Capilla  Real,  rising  from  the  square,  flanked  at  the 
northeastern  angle  by  the  famous  Giralda,  the  most 
conspicuous  landmark,  as  it  is  the  oldest  and  most 
beautiful  structure  in  Seville.  The  Moors  built 
here  the  great  Mosque  of  Abu  Yakub  Yusuf,  and 
the  Giralda  was  its  minaret  or  prayer  tower.  When 

the  Christians  drove  the  Moors  out  of  Seville,  they 
VOL.  1—4 


50  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

made  the  mosque  their  cathedral.  Then  in  the  fif- 
teenth and  sixteenth  centuries  they  built  the  present 
cathedral  on  the  site  of  the  mosque,  preserving  the 
Giralda.  Various  earthquake  shocks  having  weakened 
the  cathedral,  a  thorough  restoration  is  now  being  ac- 
complished. It  is  nearly  four  hundred  feet  long 
and  two  hundred  and  fifty  feet  wide,  having  a  nave, 
double  aisles,  and  two  rows  of  side  chapels,  and  in 
addition  the  fronting  Capilla  Real,  ninety-two  feet 
long  and  one  hundred  and  thirty  feet  high,  while 
the  nave  rises  two  feet  higher.  The  entire  area  cov- 
ered is  124,000  square  feet.  The  magnificent 
Giralda,  named  from  the  Spanish  word  girar,  "  to 
turn  round,"  referring  to  the  giraldillo  or  weather- 
cock surmounting  it,  is  forty-nine  feet  square  at  the 
base,  the  walls  being  eight  to  ten  feet  thick,  and  was 
originally  two  hundred  and  thirty  feet  high,  the 
upper  walls  ornamented  with  Arabesque-like  sunken 
panels,  niches  and  windows,  that  had  been  highly 
decorated.  An  embattled  platform  then  crowned 
it  with  an  iron  standard  and  four  enormous  balls  of 
brass,  which  the  muezzin  sounded  for  the  prayer-calls. 
These  were  overthrown  by  an  earthquake  in  1395. 
Subsequently  the  tower  was  repaired,  and  a  belfry 
built  above  with  another  tower  on  top,  and  capped 
with  a  small  dome,  on  which  stands  the  famous 
weathercock,  three  hundred  and  eight  feet  from  the 
ground.  This  is  a  bronze  female  figure  thirteen 
feet  high  and  weighing  over  a  ton,  representing 


SEVILLE  AND  THE  CID  51 

Faith  bearing  the  banner  of  .Constantino  and  turn- 
ing around  to  face  every  wind  and  storm.  This 
celebrated  Giralda,  regarded  as  the  most  splendid 
tower  in  Europe,  is  under  the  special  protection  of 
Saints  Justa  and  Rufina,  depicted  in  one  of  Murillo's 
noted  paintings  in  the  Seville  Museum. 

The  cathedral  has  five  stained  glass  windows,  and 
in  the  nave  is  the  tombstone  of  Ferdinand,  the  son 
of  Columbus,  who  died  in  1540,  giving  the  Cathedral 
Chapter  his  extensive  library,  still  preserved, 
numbering  thirty  thousand  volumes,  many  being 
printed  books  of  that  period  relating  to  the  dis- 
covery of  America.  It  also  contains  the  monument 
of  Columbus,  which  was  removed  from  the  Havana 
Cathedral  in  1899.  In  the  Capilla  Real  in  a  silver 
shrine,  is  the  body  of  St.  Ferdinand  III,  King  of 
Spain,  the  captor  of  Seville  from  the  Moors  after 
six  months'  siege,  on  St.  Clement's  Day,  November 
3,  1248,  who  died  in  1252,  and  also  the  tombs  of 
King  Alfonso  the  Learned,  who  died  in  1284,  and 
his  mother,  Beatrice  of  Suabia.  Upon  the  high 
altar  here  is  the  statue  of  the  Vergen  de  los  Reyes, 
given  to  St.  Ferdinand  by  St.  Louis  of  France,  a 
figure  with  removable  golden  hair,  and  covered  with 
splendid  vestments,  though  the  golden  crown  was 
stolen  in  1873.  The  two  keys  of  Seville  captured 
by  St.  Ferdinand  are  in  the  Treasury  —  the  silver 
key  of  the  Moors  —  with  the  inscription :  "  May 
Allah  grant  that  Islam  may  rule  eternally  in  this 


52  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

city";  and  the  iron-gilt  key  of  the  Jews,  with  the 
words,  "  The  King  of  Kings  will  open,  the  King  of 
the  Earth  will  enter."  There  are  also  many  paint- 
ings in  the  chapels  by  the  great  masters,  among 
them  Murillo's  masterpiece,  St.  Anthony  of  Padua's 
Vision  of  the  Holy  Child,  painted  in  1656.  In 
November,  1874,  the  kneeling  figure  of  the  saint 
was  cut  out  of  this  canvas,  and  taken  to  America, 
where  it  was  recovered  in  New  York  three  months 
afterward.  It  has  been  very  skilfully  replaced  in 
the  picture. 

The  Alcazar,  the  residence  of  the  Spanish 
sovereigns  since  the  capture  of  Seville  by  St.  Fer- 
dinand, rises  in  embattled  towers  and  massive 
masonry,  a  medieval  castle  on  the  southern  side  of 
the  Plaza  del  Triunfo.  Here  was  the  Prsetorium 
of  the  Roman  days  and  on  its  ruins  the  Moorish 
kings  had  their  palace  or  Alcazar,  a  huge  citadel, 
the  strongest  fortification  of  the  city,  originally  con- 
structed for  Abu  Yakub  Yusuf.  Very  little  re- 
mains of  his  structure,  however,  the  nucleus  of  the 
present  one  being  built  by  Pedro  the  Cruel,  other- 
wise called  Pedro  the  Judge,  in  the  fourteenth  cen- 
tury, the  most  popular  king  of  Seville,  his  surnames 
having  been  given  according  to  the  point  of  view 
of  the  observer.  Within  the  Alcazar,  Pedro  mur- 
dered his  brother  Fadrique,  and  also  his  guest,  Abu 
Said  of  Oranada,  the  latter  crime  being  com- 
mitted to  secure  the  Moor's  valuable  jewels.  One 


,j; 


Alcazar,  Seville. 


SEVILLE  AND  THE  CID  53 

of  these,  a  large  ruby,  was  given  by  Peter  to  the 
English  Black  Prince,  and  is  now  included  in  the 
regalia  of  the  British  crown.  The  Alcazar  suffered 
from  fires,  was  at  various  times  enlarged,  embel- 
lished and  restored,  and  is  to-day  one  of  the  great 
show  buildings  of  Spain.  Its  "  Court  of  the 
Maidens,"  a  cloistered  space  about  sixty  feet  square, 
adorned  by  exquisite  Moorish  arches,  the  fine  fagade 
of  the  Patio  de  la  Montera,  a  richly  adorned  struc- 
ture in  the  Persian  style ;  and  the  "  Hall  of  the 
Ambassadors,"  a  magnificent  room  thirty-three  feet 
square  surmounted  by  a  dome,  are  its  chief  adorn- 
ments. On  the  walls  of  the  latter  are  the  portraits 
of  the  kings  of  Spain  down  to  Philip  III.  The 
Alcazar  has  attractive  gardens,  and  adjoining  them 
is  a  vaulted  gallery  where  Maria  de  Padilla,  the 
morganatic  wife  of  King  Pedro,  used  to  bathe.  The 
chronicler  of  that  time  tells  us  solemnly  that  Don 
Pedro's  courtiers  displayed  their  gallantry  by 
drinking  the  water.  The  Seville  Museum  has  many 
paintings  by  the  old  masters  collected  from  the 
ancient  convents  and  now  housed  in  the  Convent 
of  la  Merced,  which  St.  Ferdinand  founded.  The 
noted  Seville  University  was  established  by  King 
Alfonso  the  Learned  in  1256,  and  was  greatly  en- 
larged in  subsequent  reigns. 

Among  the  attractions  of  Seville  are  the  famous 
church  festivals  which  are  part  of  the  official  life  of 
the  city  and  draw  great  crowds  of  visitors.  The 


54  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

chief  festivals  are  at  Corpus  Christi,  the  Conception, 
on  the  three  carnival  days,  All  Saints'  Day,  Christ- 
mas, and  during  Holy  Week.  The  culminating 
celebrations  are  during  the  latter  period,  the  Semana 
Santa,  when  Seville  is  crowded  to  overflowing,  and 
prices  are  high.  There  are  magnificent  processions 
of  the  Confradias,  or  Religious  Brotherhoods,  car- 
rying through  the  streets  gorgeously  adorned  statues 
of  saints  upon  litters  illuminated  by  many  candles. 
In  front  are  the  soldiers,  guards  and  gendarmes, 
followed  by  the  brotherhood  members  wearing  masks, 
white-robed  girls,  the  town  council  and  bands  of 
music.  The  Lord  Mayor  of  Seville  reviews  them  as 
they  pass  the  City  Hall  —  the  Senor  Alcalde  Presi- 
dente  —  and  they  proceed  to  the  cathedral,  large 
crowds  witnessing  the  march.  The  first  procession 
is  on  Palm  Sunday  in  the  afternoon,  and  others  on 
Wednesday,  Thursday  and  Good  Friday,  there  being 
both  an  early  morning  and  an  afternoon  procession 
on  Friday.  There  are  elaborate  ceremonials  within 
the  cathedral.  On  Wednesday,  the  Velo  Blanco,  the 
"  Veil  of  the  Temple,"  is  rent  in  twain  with  an 
accompaniment  of  thunder;  the  oil  is  consecrated  on 
Thursday  in  the  presence  of  the  Cathedral  Chapter, 
town  council  and  other  functionaries,  with  the 
"  Washing  of  the  Feet "  in  the  evening.  There  are 
services  throughout  Friday,  and  early  Saturday 
morning  the  Cirio  Pascual  is  consecrated,  a  gigantic 
candle  twenty-five  feet  long  and  weighing  about  eight 


SEVILLE  AND  THE  CID  55 

hundred  pounds.  The  "  Eevelation  of  the  High 
Altar "  follows  through  the  rending  of  the  Velo 
Xegro,  accompanied  by  the  Gloria  in  Excelsis  with 
peals  of  thunder  and  the  ringing  of  all  the  church 
bells.  There  is  also  a  curious  "  Dance  of  the  Six 
Boys,"  usually  performed  in  front  of  the  high  altar, 
reproducing  the  Israelitish  dance  before  the  ark,  the 
boys  appearing  in  fantastic  dress  of  the  sixteenth 
century.  The  Easter  music  and  solemn  high  mass 
attract  an  enormous  congregation. 

In  the  Chapel  of  Granada,  alongside  the  entrance 
to  the  Seville  Cathedral,  are  kept  various  relics, 
among  them  a  huge  elephant's  tusk  and  the  Lagarto, 
from  which  the  cathedral  entrance  is  named  the 
Puerta  del  Lagarto,  meaning  "  the  lizard."  This 
is  a  stuffed  crocodile  that  was  sent  in  1260  by  the 
Sultan  of  Egypt  to  King  Alfonso  the  Learned,  ac- 
companying a  request  for  the  hand  of  his  daughter. 
Here  hangs  also  the  alleged  bridle  of  Babiega,  the 
horse  of  El  Cid,  the  national  romantic  and  chiv- 
alrous hero  of  Spain,  who  appeared  at  Seville  dur- 
ing the  height  of  the  Moslem  power,  in  the  reign 
of  Motamid,  to  collect  tribute  for  the  king  of  Old 
Castile,  Alfonso,  and  when  El  Cid  came  here  he 
found  Motamid  in  straits,  for  Abdallah  the  king  of 
Granada  had  brought  a  large  army  against  Motamid 
and  was  laying  siege  to  the  city.  The  chivalrous 
hero  at  once  attacked  Abdallah,  defeated  him  under 
the  walls  of  Seville  with  great  slaughter,  and  re- 


56  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

turned  to  his  king  Alfonso  at  Burgos,  the  capital 
of  Old  Castile,  with  many  prisoners  and  rich  booty. 
But  Alfonso  turned  against  him,  El  Cid  was  ac- 
cused of  attacking  the  Moors  without  authority,  and 
of  keeping  back  part  of  the  Seville  tribute,  and  was 
banished  from  Old  Castile.  Then  began  the  great 
Spanish  hero's  picturesque  and  romantic  life  that 
has  been  described  during  subsequent  centuries  by 
an  endless  catalogue  of  minstrels,  romancers  and 
song  writers,  enveloped  in  myth  and  story,  expand- 
ing with  the  lapse  of  time,  until  it  has  made  him  the 
impersonation  of  Spanish  chivalry  and  renown,  col- 
ored with  marvellous  attributes  and  achievements. 

Rodrigo  Diaz  de  Vivar,  who  thus  became  the  most 
prominent  figure  in  medieval  Spanish  literature, 
was  born  at  Vivar,  north  of  Burgos,  about  1030,  and 
as  he  became  the  foremost  man  of  that  heroic  period 
in  Spain  and  the  greatest  warrior  produced  in  the 
long  struggle  between  the  Christian  and  the 
Moslem,  his  titles  were  given  him  by  the  Moors, 
El  Seid,  meaning  "the  lord,"  and  El  Campeador, 
or  "  the  champion,"  for  in  a  trial  at  arms  by  single 
combat,  he  had  slain  the  enemy's  champion.  He 
served  King  Ferdinand  I  of  Old  Castile  and  his 
sons,  in  their  campaign  against  the  Moors  of  the 
Guadalquivir,  and  on  Ferdinand's  death  was  the 
champion  of  his  son  Sancho  I.  When  the  latter 
was  slain,  and  his  brother  Alfonso  aspired  to  the 
throne,  El  Cid  made  him  take  a  solemn  oath  that  he 


SEVILLE  AND  THE  CID  57 

was  not  his  brother's  murderer.  This  was  in  the 
Burgos  church  of  Santa  Agueda,  where  the  king  is 
said  to  have  taken  the  oath  three  times ;  first  by  the 
cross  at  the  entrance,  then  by  the  bolt  (still  pre- 
served) of  the  church  door,  and  finally  by  the  gos- 
pels on  the  high  altar.  Alfonso  at  first  demurred, 
until  a  knight  exclaimed,  "  Take  the  oath,  and  fear 
nought;  never  was  a  king  found  guilty  of  perjury, 
or  a  pope  excommunicated." 

El  Cid  married  Alfonso's  cousin  Ximena,  and 
was  his  great  military  leader  until  the  affair  at 
Seville.  Being  banished,  the  hero  then  became  a 
true  soldier  of  fortune,  fighting  for  one  leader  after 
another,  now  under  the  Christian  banner,  and  now 
for  the  Moslem,  but  always  for  his  own  hand.  He 
was  bold  and  courageous,  yet  cruel  and  vindictive, 
and  in  many  wars  and  contests,  he  finally  captured 
Valencia,  after  nine  months'  siege  in  1094,  the 
richest  prize  that  had  been  taken  from  the  Moors 
down  to  that  time.  Upon  this  he  founded  an  ex- 
tensive kingdom  in  southeastern  Spain,  composed  of 
Valencia  and  Murcia,  which  he  ruled  successfully 
for  about  four  years,  until  the  Moors  came  in  great 
force  and  inflicted  a  crushing  defeat,  which  had 
such  an  effect  upon  the  war-worn  and  aged  Cid,  that 
he  died  of  grief  in  July,  1099.  His  widow,  Ximena, 
maintained  her  power  in  the  city,  which  has  since 
been  known  as  Valencia  del  Cid,  for  a  little  while 
afterward,  but  was  forced  to  abandon  it.  The  min- 


58  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

strels  tell  the  romantic  story  of  how  she  placed  the 
dead  body  of  her  husband  on  his  former  war-horse 
Babiega,  and  thus  passed  in  safety  through  the  ranks 
of  the  terrified  Moors  who  besieged  the  place.  He 
had  ordained  in  his  last  will  that  he  should  be  bur- 
ied in  the  convent  of  San  Pedro  de  Cardena  near 
Burgos,  and  thither  the  body  was  taken,  and  he  and 
Ximena  were  buried  there,  surrounded  by  the  graves 
of  several  companions  in  arms,  while  the  faithful 
Babiega  was  buried  near  the  gateway.  Centuries 
later  the  Cid's  bones  were  taken  up  and  carried  to 
Sigmaringen  in  Germany,  but  in  1883,  with 
Ximena's  remains,  they  reached  their  final  resting 
place  in  the  Town  Hall  of  Burgos,  which  city  ac- 
quires special  fame  as  the  home  of  the  great  Spanish 
hero.  Babiega  outlived  the  Cid,  and  in  his  will  he 
wrote,  "  When  ye  bury  Babiega,  dig  deep,  for  a  shame- 
ful thing  it  were  that  she  should  be  eaten  by  curs, 
who  have  trampled  down  so  much  currish  flesh  of 
Moors."  This  charger  had  great  intelligence. 
When  El  Cid  rode  into  Toledo  on  one  occasion,  with 
King  Alfonso,  Babiega  dropped  upon  her  knees  be- 
fore a  Moorish  mosque  and  would  not  stir.  He  had 
laborers  called  to  search  for  a  relic,  and  they  had 
scarcely  made  a  hole  in  the  wall  when  a  flood  of 
light  poured  out  of  it.  Searching  a  little  further 
an  extraordinary  image  was  found  in  a  niche  with 
a  lantern  beside  it,  that  had  been  burning  without 
oil  or  wick,  it  was  supposed,  since  before  the  Moslem 


THE  ANCIENT  MOORISH  CAPITAL  59 

conquest,  when  this  had  been  a  Christian  church. 
The  mosque  was  again  made  a  church  and  is  called 
"  the  Christ  of  the  Light,"  the  image,  which  is  still 
preserved  over  the  altar,  having  real  hair  and  a  beard. 
There  was  an  unsuccessful  effort  made  by  the  Span- 
ish king,  Philip  II,  to  have  El  Cid  canonized  as 
the  impersonation  of  the  heroic  national  life  of 
Spain,  but  objection  was  made  at  Rome.  All  sorts 
of  romances  have  been  interwoven  in  his  life  during 
the  centuries,  and  he  is  still  invoked  by  good  Span- 
iards in  every  national  crisis.  His  fame  has  been 
sung  by  the  Spanish  minstrels  for  generations,  in 
ballads  full  of  the  most  extravagant  laudation  and 
mythical  exploits,  while  not  a  few  Spanish  grandees 
are  proud  to  know  that  his  blood  courses  through 
their  veins. 

THE   ANCIENT    MOORISH    CAPITAL. 

The  Guadalquivir  comes  to  Seville  from  the  north- 
east through  a  plain,  from  which  in  looking  back  at 
that  city  the  great  cathedral  is  seen  to  tower  above 
the  lower  white  buildings,  as  Gautier  has  expressed 
it,  "  like  an  elephant  standing  amid  a  flock  of  rest- 
ing sheep."  The  river  flows  in  a  fertile  valley,  re- 
ceives many  tributaries,  and  among  them  about  fifty 
miles  from  Seville,  the  sturdy  Jenil  coming  west- 
ward with  the  ample  tribute  of  the  Sierra  Xevada 
snows  from  Granada,  this  river  being  the  Singibis 
of  the  Romans  and  the  Shenil  of  the  Moors.  There 


60  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

are  rapids  below  the  Jenil  mouth,  where  old  Moorish 
mills  are  located.  Beyond,  at  some  distance,  rises 
high  above  the  Guadalquivir  the  fine  Moorish  castle 
of  Almodovar  del  Rio,  with  its  detached  tower  on 
a  hill,  which  King  Pedro  the  Cruel  is  said  to  have 
used  as  his  treasure  house  in  the  fourteenth  century. 
About  seventy-five  miles  northeast  of  Seville,  the 
river  makes  a  sharp  curve  at  the  base  of  the  Sierra 
de  Cordoba,  a  projecting  spur  of  the  Sierra  Morena, 
and  here  at  an  elevation  of  about  four  hundred  feet 
above  the  sea,  on  a  plain  sloping  gently  upward  from 
the  Guadalquivir,  is  the  ancient  capital  of  the  Moors, 
the  city  of  Cordova,  with  about  sixty  thousand  peo- 
ple. But  outside  of  the  cathedral,  the  former 
mosque,  which  has  been  seriously  defaced,  there  are 
few  relics  of  that  time.  The  public  squares  are 
small,  the  streets  narrow  and  rough,  the  old  walls  in 
ruins,  the  houses  low  and  whitewashed  and  the 
homes  of  the  powerful  nobles  deserted,  but  Cordova 
still  possesses  its  noble  views  of  the  mountains  be- 
hind it  and  the  splendid  valley  of  the  "  great  river  " 
in  front,  to  the  southward. 

The  Moorish  Omayyades  of  the  Abderrahman 
dynasty  in  the  eighth,  ninth  and  tenth  centuries, 
built  its  great  mosque,  or  Mesdjid,  still  the  most 
imposing  monument  of  the  Moorish  domination  in 
Spain,  which  made  Cordova  the  Moslem  Mecca  of 
the  West,  and  a  city  that  was  the  home  of  students 
from  all  nations  and  among  the  greatest  and  wealth- 


THE  ANCIENT  MOORISH  CAPITAL  61 

iest  in  Europe.  This  mosque  was  built  on  the  site 
of  a  Roman  temple,  and  was  the  Mesdjid  al-Djami, 
or  "  chief  place  of  prayer,"  their  largest  religious 
structure  in  Spain,  and  second  in  size  to  that  of 
Mecca  alone,  among  all  the  Mosques  of  Islam. 
When  the  Moors  came  they  found  here  near  the 
north  bank .  of  the  river,  the  Visigothic  Christian 
Church  of  St.  Vincent,  of  which  they  got  possession, 
and  here  Abderrahman  I  in  785  began  the  construc- 
tion of  the  Zeca,  or  "  House  of  Purification,"  made 
of  ten  rows  of  columns,  taken  mostly  from  Christian 
churches  and  occupying  about  one-fifth  of  the  site 
of  the  present  building.  These  columns  divided  it 
longitudinally  into  eleven  aisles,  and  transversely 
into  twelve.  The  central  aisle,  somewhat  wider 
than  the  others,  had  a  short  prolongation  beyond  the 
enclosing  wall,  forming  the  Mihrdb  or  "  prayer- 
recess."  To  this  structure  was  added  on  the  north 
the  Haram  or  "  Court  of  Ablutions "  completed 
shortly  after  his  death,  and  his  successor  Hisham  I 
placed  there  a  fountain,  and  also  built  the  ancient 
tower  for  the  Muezzin,  or  "  prayer-crier."  Every 
ruler  afterward  added  extensions  to  the  mosque,  with 
more  columns,  aisles  and  adjunct  buildings,  and  its 
growth  attracted  pilgrims  from  all  parts  of  Islam, 
so  that  the  population  of  Cordova  was  largely  in- 
creased by  accessions  from  Arabia,  Syria  and  Africa. 
The  Caliph  Abderrahman  III  did  a  great  deal, 
and  his  successor  Hakim  II  doubled  its  size  so  that 


62  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

in  the  later  tenth  century  Arabic  writers,  in  admira- 
tion, recorded  of  this  mosque  that  "  in  all  the  lands 
of  Islam  there  was  none  of  equal  size,  none  more 
admirable  in  point  of  work,  construction  and  dura- 
bility." Then  came  Caliph  Hisham  II,  who  made 
further  additions  by  adding  more  rows  of  columns, 
widening  the  structure,  and  about  the  year  990  it 
was  practically  completed  with  nineteen  aisles,  giv- 
ing the  profound  impression  of  endless  space  to  the 
visitor,  as  he  gazed  through  the  long  vistas  of  ap- 
parently innumerable  rows  of  columns. 

The  period  of  greatest  magnificence  in  Cordova 
was  during  the  long  reign  of  Abderrahman  Annasis 
Ledinallah,  known  as  Abderrahman  III,  from  912 
to  961.  His  seraglio  is  said  to  have  numbered  6,300 
persons  and  he  was  attended  in  the  field  by  twelve 
thousand  horsemen,  "  whose  belts  and  scimitars  were 
studded  with  gold."  Gibbon,  who  records  this,  men- 
tions a  memorial  the  Caliph  had  written,  which  was 
found  after  his  death,  in  which  he  spoke  of  his  long 
reign  "  in  victory  or  peace,  beloved  by  my  subjects, 
dreaded  by  my  enemies,  and  respected  by  my  allies. 
Riches  and  honors,  power  and  pleasure,  have  waited 
on  my  call,  nor  does  any  earthly  blessing  appear  to 
have  been  wanting  to  my  felicity.  In  this  situation 
I  have  diligently  numbered  the  days  of  pure  and 
genuine  happiness  which  have  fallen  to  my  lot ;  they 
amount  to  fourteen.  O  man,  place  not  thy  confi- 
dence in  this  present  world."  The  line  of  the 


THE  ANCIENT  MOORISH  CAPITAL  63 

Omayyades  of  the  Abderrahman  dynasty  became  ex- 
tinct in  1031. 

St.  Ferdinand  captured  Cordova  in  1238,  and 
the  renowned  mosque  then  became  the  Christian 
Church  of  the  \rergen  de  la  Asuncion.  The  space 
occupied  is  about  240,000  square  feet,  equal  to  that 
of  St.  Peter's  in  Rome,  and  is  a  rectangle  five  hun- 
dred and  seventy  feet  long  and  four  hundred  and 
twenty-five  feet  wide,  of  which  the  mosque  covers 
two-thirds  and  the  large  court  one-third.  An  em- 
battled wall  thirty  to  sixty-five  feet  high,  standing 
on  ponderous  terraces  and  having  massive  buttresses, 
surrounds  it,  there  having  originally  been  twenty- 
two  gates,  of  which  ten  are  still  preserved,  though 
there  were  none  at  any  time  on  the  southern  side. 
Like  most  Moorish  structures,  the  exterior  thus  is  a 
mass  of  monotonous  masonry  looking  much  like  a 
fortress.  The  gates  were  surmounted  by  decorated 
horseshoe  arches  and  had  bronze-mounted  doors  and 
knockers.  The  word  Deus  is  inscribed  in  Gothic 
characters,  with  the  Arabic  inscription  "  the  lordship 
belongs  to  Allah  and  his  protection."  The  Bell- 
Tower,  taking  the  place  of  the  Moorish  minaret,  rises 
three  hundred  feet,  having  been  largely  reconstructed 
in  the  sixteenth  century  to  resemble  the  Seville 
Giralda,  and  it  is  surmounted  by  a  weathercock  fig- 
ure of  St.  Raphael,  the  patron  saint  of  Cordova. 
From  the  top  there  is  an  admirable  view  over  the 
city  and  its  splendid  surroundings  of  mountain  and 


64  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

river  scenery.  Within  the  enclosure  the  "  Court  of 
Ablutions  "  is  now  called  the  "  Court  of  Oranges," 
its  fountains,  palms  and  orange  trees  giving  an  ex- 
cellent representation  of  oriental  repose,  the  rows 
of  orange  trees  reproducing  the  nineteen  aisles  of 
the  mosque  in  continuation,  although  the  nineteen 
arched  gateways  are  now  reduced  to  three.  There 
were  various  alterations  made  in  the  mosque  that 
marred  its  symmetry  and  beauty,  but  it  still  resembles 
the  older  mosques,  and  though  of  moderate  height, 
thirty-eight  feet,  and  with  much  of  the  perspective 
vistas  destroyed  by  the  changes  made,  it  gives  the 
visitor  the  impressive  idea  in  the  subdued  light,  of 
an  endless  forest  of  columns.  There  are  still  over 
eight  hundred  and  fifty  columns  standing,  in  mar- 
ble, jasper,  breccia,  porphyry  and  other  materials 
of  diverse  styles,  and  said  by  tradition  to  have  been 
gathered  from  many  churches  in  towns  captured  by 
the  Moors,  and  brought  from  everywhere  they  made 
conquests,  but  the  modern  investigators  have  found 
that  most  of  them  came  out  of  Andalusian  quarries. 
They  are  about  thirteen  feet  in  height  with  a  double 
row  of  arches  between  their  capitals  and  the  roof, 
the  lower  arches  horseshoes,  and  the  upper  resting 
on  slender  pillars  imposed  on  the  columns,  giving  a 
singularly  beautiful  effect  by  the  interlaced  crossings 
above.  The  ornamented  roof  originally  was  open 
work  made  of  larchwood,  and  the  florid  Arabic  writ- 
ers tell  of  the  more  than  seven  thousand  lamps  which 


.BvobioD  to  tiuoO 


Court  of  Oranges,  Mosque  of  Cordova. 


THE  ANCIENT  MOORISH  CAPITAL  (55 

hung  from  nearly  three  hundred  chandeliers  to  light 
the  interior,  and  the  vast  amount  of  oil  consumed, 
saying,  "  The  gold  shines  from  the  ceiling  like  fire; 
it  blazes  like  the  lightning  when  it  darts  across  the 
clouds." 

There  were  many  alterations  made  in  the  mosque, 
involving  the  removal  of  large  numbers  of  columns 
and  the  destruction  of  the  superb  Moorish  ceilings 
when  the  changes  came  in  the  sixteenth  century  that 
then  established  a  high-roofed  church  choir  in  the 
centre  of  the  mosque,  and  these  changes  marred  much 
of  the  elaborate  beauty  for  which  the  structure  was 
famous.  The  holy  Mihrab,  its  axis  directed  toward 
the  south,  to  face  Mecca,  is  the  culminating  point 
in  the  decoration  of  all  mosques.  The  earliest 
Mihrab  is  gone;  the  second  is  mutilated;  but  the 
third,  built  by  Hakim  II,  is  preserved  and  is  the 
gem  of  the  building  to-day.  This  is  a  seven-sided, 
chapel-like  structure,  about  thirteen  feet  in  diameter, 
having  a  large  vestibule  (now  the  Chapel  San 
Pedro)  and  two  side  rooms.  The  Mihrab  became 
the  sacristy  to  the  chapel.  The  dome  of  this  Moor- 
ish vestibule  —  now  the  chapel  —  is  in  the  form  of 
a  pineapple,  below  which  interlacing  arches  rest  upon 
marble  columns,  brilliantly  colored  mosaics  adorn- 
ing the  walls  that  also  bear  Arabic  inscriptions. 
These  mosaics  were  executed  a  thousand  years  ago 
by  workmen  sent  with  the  materials  from  Constanti- 
nople, and  they  faded,  but  now  are  rather  poorly 
VOL.  1—5 


66  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

restored.  The  Mihrab  itself  has  a  ceiling  twenty- 
eight  feet  above  the  floor,  made  of  a  white  marble 
block  hollowed  to  form  a  shell.  The  splendid  arch- 
way entrance  leading  from  the  vestibule  rests  upon 
two  green  and  two  blue  columns,  that  were  removed 
from  the  earlier  Mihrabs,  and  the  walls  are  panelled 
with  richly  carved  marbles.  When  the  Christian 
church  first  took  possession  they  named  this  the 
Chapel  of  the  Zancarron,  or  the  "  bare  bone,"  as  the 
tradition  was  that  a  bone  of  Mohammed  had  been 
preserved  in  it.  The  pavement  of  white  marble 
within  the  septagon  is  worn  by  the  Moslem  pilgrims, 
who  in  unending  troops  made  a  sevenfold  circuit  of 
the  little  enclosure  on  their  knees.  A  splendid 
Moorish  pulpit  was  formerly  in  the  side-room  toward 
the  east  —  a  desk  upon  wheels  which  bore  the  sacred 
copy  of  the  Koran,  said  to  have  been  written  by  the 
Caliph  Omar,  the  second  in  descent  from  Moham- 
med, and  to  have  been  sprinkled  with  his  blood. 
This  central  church  in  the  mosque  which  displaced 
so  many  columns  is  about  two  hundred  and  fifty  feet 
long  with  its  chapels,  and  has  short  transepts.  There 
is  also  a  parish  church  constructed  in  the  south- 
eastern corner  of  the  cathedral-mosque,  and  in  vari- 
ous parts  are  forty-five  other  chapels. 

Cordova  has  an  extensive  Alcazar,  partly  of  Moor- 
ish construction,  near  the  river,  and  southwest  of 
the  cathedral.  Here  sat  the  Inquisition,  and  in  it 
is  now  the  prison.  The  triunfo,  erected  in  honor  of 


. 
Interior  of  the  Mosque,  Cordova. 


THE  ANCIENT  MOORISH  CAPITAL  67 

St.  Raphael,  is  south  of  the  cathedral,  having  in 
front  Philip  IPs  gateway,  a  Doric  triumphal  arch, 
the  Puerta  del  Puente,  leading  to  the  ancient  Moor- 
ish bridge  across  the  Guadalquivir,  its  sixteen  arches 
standing  on  Roman  foundations.  From  this  bridge 
there  is  a  good  view  of  the  mosque,  its  sombre  en- 
closing wall  dominated  by  the  high  central  church 
walls  'and  belfry,  with  the  noble  background  of  the 
mountains  to  the  northward.  The  road  to  Seville 
begins  at  the  southern  end  of  the  bridge,  which  is 
protected  by  a  massive  fortified  gateway.  Cordova 
in  the  Roman  days  was  the  birthplace  of  Lucan  the 
Stoic  and  of  the  two  Senecas.  The  noted  Rabbi 
Moses  Maimonides  was  born  here  in  1139,  and  also 
the  painter  Pablo  de  Cespedes  in  1538  and  Juan  de 
Valdes  Leal  in  1630.  The  famous  "  Gran  Capitan  " 
Gonzales  of  Cordova,  the  conqueror  of  Naples  from 
the  French  in  the  late  fifteenth  century,  was  born 
at  Montilla,  about  thirty  miles  southeast  of  Cordova, 
in  1453.  He  was  one  of  the  greatest  Spanish  gen- 
erals at  the  time  of  the  kingdom's  highest  power, 
and  the  leader  of  the  armies  of  Ferdinand  and  Isa- 
bella, being  active  in  the  defeat  of  the  Moors  and 
conquest  of  Granada,  and  the  negotiator  of  the  sur- 
render of  Boabdil,  their  last  caliph,  in  January, 
1492.  Farther  eastward  among  the  mountain  spurs 
near  Martos  rises  the  steep  precipice  of  the  Carva- 
jales.  The  tradition  is  that  in  the  early  fourteenth 
century  Ferdinand  IV  ordered  the  brothers  Carvajal, 


68  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

unjustly  condemned  without  trial  for  murder,  to  be 
thrown  from  this  height.  Before  their  death  on 
August  8,  1312,  they  solemnly  summoned  the  king 
to  meet  them  at  the  judgment  seat  of  God  in  thirty 
days.  Ferdinand  suddenly  died  one  month  after- 
ward on  September  7  and  was  consequently  called 
El  Emplazado,  "  the  summoned,"  in  later  times. 

CADIZ    AND    TRAFALGAB. 

South  of  the  Guadalquivir  delta,  the  low  Spanish 
shore  made  by  its  deposits  protrudes  to  the  west- 
ward, with  hills  in  the  background,  the  plain  being 
largely  occupied  by  vineyards  and  market  gardens. 
Beyond  these  the  Bay  of  Cadiz  is  deeply  indented, 
and  farther  southward  the  Isle  of  Leon  is  separated 
from  the  mainland  by  a  narrow  channel.  From  this 
island  there  extends  northwestward  a  long,  narrow, 
rocky  peninsula,  broadening  at  its  northern  termina- 
tion, and  almost  completely  enclosing  the  spacious 
harbor  of  Cadiz,  the  city  being  built  upon  this  penin- 
sula. As  the  steamer  moves  along,  the  dazzlingly 
white  city  rises  apparently  from  the  water,  like  a 
castle  in  mid-ocean,  surmounted  by  the  dome-topped 
cathedral,  and  the  entrance  to  the  harbor  opens  to 
the  eastward  with  forts  dotted  about  on  every  de- 
fensive eminence.  There  are  other  ports  upon  the 
extensive  bay  into  which  the  pretty  river  Guadalete, 
coming  out  of  the  hills  past  Jerez,  empties.  All  of 
these  ports  are  very  ancient  settlements,  mostly  an- 


CADIZ  AND  TRAFALGAR  69 

tedating  the  Eomans.  Among  them  is  the  Portus 
Menesthai  and  the  Puerto  de  Santa  Maria,  devoted 
to  fisheries  and  the  wine  trade,  Portus  Gaditanus, 
now  Puerto  Real,  which  deals  in  salt  and  has  some- 
what lost  its  ancient  renown  through  modern  eclipse, 
and  within  the  bay  old  Isla  de  Leon,  at  present  called 
San  Fernando,  and  the  chief  Spanish  naval  station. 
To  the  southward  of  the  latter,  on  an  eminence,  for- 
merly stood  the  Temple  of  the  Tyrian  Hercules,  a 
work  of  the  Phoenicians  which  was  highly  venerated 
afterward  by  the  Romans.  All  about  the  broad  bay 
the  low  shores  display  lagoons  and  salt  marshes,  the 
landscape  being  decidedly  Venetian,  and  dominated 
far  away  across  the  water  as  seen  from  every  point 
of  view,  by  "  fair  Cadiz  rising  o'er  the  dark  blue 
sea." 

Upon  the  rock  of  limestone,  almost  completely 
surrounded  by  the  ocean,  terminating  the  peninsula 
of  the  Isle  of  Leon,  is  the  great  seaport  and  naval 
station  of  Spain,  the  place  of  earliest  Iberian  settle- 
ment on  the  Atlantic  coast.  The  powerful  waves 
might  wash  it  away  were  it  not  for  the  massive  pro- 
tecting walls  about  twenty  feet  thick  and  sometimes 
fifty  feet  high  which  buttress  it  all  around.  The 
origin  is  involved  in  the  mystery  of  prehistoric 
times,  but  it  is  known  that  the  Phoenician  adven- 
turers brought  their  tin  and  amber  from  the  northern 
seas  to  this  Tyrian  Gadir  or  "  castle,"  more  than  a 
thousand  years  before  the  Christian  era.  Carthage 


70  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

got  possession  500  B.  C.  and  made  a  wealthy  settle- 
ment here,  equipping  their  fleets  and  armies.  Then 
it  became  Gades  and  the  Romans  possessed  it,  the 
Tarshish  of  Scripture,  the  Greek  writers  marvelling 
at  the  great  Atlantic  tides,  rising  six  to  ten  feet,  a 
surprising  daily  change  in  level  unknown  to  the 
Mediterranean.  Caesar  and  Pompey  disputed  for 
it,  and  in  the  days  of  Augustus  it  was  famed  for 
wealth  and  luxury,  and  became  the  exporting  mart 
for  the  rich  products  of  the  fertile  valley  of  the 
Guadalquivir.  Then  the'  barbarians  came,  it  fell  in 
decadence,  and  as  the  Djezirat-Kadis  of  the  Moors 
it  had  little  history,  they  making  Seville  and  Cor- 
dova their  chief  ports  and  cities.  Alfonso  the 
Learned  captured  the  almost  abandoned  settlement 
in  1262  and  had  to  re-people  it.  The  discovery  of 
America  and  the  "  silver  fleets  of  the  Indies  "  re- 
stored it  to  some  prosperity,  and  then  the  Barbary 
corsairs  attacked  it  in  the  sixteenth  century.  Drake 
bombarded  it  in  1587,  burning  the  shipping,  and  in 
1596  Essex  in  reprisal  for  the  Spanish  Armada  cap- 
tured and  plundered  the  town  and  destroyed  thirteen 
Spanish  warships  and  forty  galleons  in  the  harbor, 
causing  ruin  and  a  long  bankruptcy.  The  English 
made  several  subsequent  attempts  at  capture,  being 
not  then  possessed  of  Gibraltar,  but  despite  these 
attacks  the  enormous  imports  of  silver  from  Amer- 
ica poured  into  this  "  silver  saucer,"  as  the  towns- 
folk called-  their  city,  averaging  $25,000,000  an- 


CADIZ  AND  TKAFALGAR  71 

nually,  restored  prosperity,  and  in  1Y70  it  was  ac- 
counted wealthier  than  London.  Cadiz  has  had 
various  vicissitudes  since  and  is  now  suffering  from 
the  rivalry  of  Seville,  having  considerably  declined 
in  the  nineteenth  century,  but  it  still  has  much  trade, 
and  a  population  of  seventy  thousand,  being  one  of 
the  strongest  fortresses  of  Spain. 

The  siege  and  capture  by  Essex  in  1596  almost 
entirely  destroyed  the  older  town,  so  that  nearly 
everything  of  antiquity  is  gone,  and  it  has  since  been 
practically  rebuilt,  and  excepting  some  narrow, 
crooked  streets  mostly  adjacent  to  the  cathedral,  the 
Cadiz  of  to-day  is  modern.  The  chief  impression  is 
of  the  dazzling  whiteness  —  a  plaster  of  Paris  city 
—  all  the  buildings  being  covered  with  whitewash 
thickly  bestowed,  and  one  writer,  De  Amicis,  in 
describing  it  asserted  that  the  best  impression  would 
be  given  by  writing  the  word  "  white,"  with  a  white 
pencil  on  blue  paper  to  represent  the  water  and  sky. 
The  flat-roofed  houses  are  topped  by  miradores  or 
view-towers,  and  the  Spaniards  followed  the  Moors 
in  the  methods  of  construction  and  in  the  lavish  in- 
terior decoration  with  marble,  and  also  quoting  from 
the  Moors  they  have  likened  their  city  to  the  "  dish 
of  silver."  The  restricted  area  of  the  peninsula  has 
precluded  either  wide  streets  or  large  open  squares 
and  has  also  compelled  the  building  of  the  houses 
higher  than  is  usual  in  southern  Spanish  towns. 
The  point  of  outlook  is  the  Tavira,  or  Watch  Tower, 


Y2  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

in  the  centre  of  the  city,  rising  one  hundred  feet 
above  the  elevated  plateau,  the  signal  station  for 
the  shipping,  and  giving  a  splendid  view  over  ocean, 
bay  and  the  distant  eastern  mountains.  The  new 
cathedral  is  modern,  and  not  very  large,  being  sur- 
mounted by  a  ponderous  dome  rising  one  hundred 
and  seventy  feet.  The  old  Capuchin  convent,  now 
an  insane  asylum,  has  in  its  Church  of  Santa  Cata- 
lina  the  last  and  one  of  the  best  paintings  by  Murillo, 
the  Betrothal  of  St.  Catharine.  Before  he  had  en- 
tirely completed  it  he  had  a  fall  from  the  scaffold 
resulting  in  his  death  in  April,  1682,  another  artist 
giving  the  painting  its  finishing  touches.  In  the 
Cadiz  Botanic  Garden  is  an  attractive  collection  of 
sub-tropical  plants,  and  a  dragon-tree  five  centuries 
old. 

It  was  from  Cadiz  that  the  Spanish  fleet  sailed 
out  to  fight  the  fateful  battle  of  Trafalgar,  October 
21,  1805,  and  the  tomb  of  its  defeated  Admiral 
Gravina  is  in  one  of  the  Cadiz  churches.  South- 
ward from  the  city,  the  coast  is  generally  low  and 
trends  toward  the  southeast  to  Cape  Trafalgar,  a 
sandy  point  guarding  the  northern  side  of  the  Medi- 
terranean entrance.  It  terminates  in  two  headlands 
and  has  a  powerful  lighthouse,  visible  for  twenty 
miles  at  sea.  This  was  the  Roman  Promontorium 
Junonis,  and  about  twenty-eight  miles  across  the 
sea,  a  little  east  of  south,  is  the  corresponding  head- 
land at  the  northwestern  extremity  of  Africa,  Cape 


- 


1    pli 


Cadiz. 


CADIZ  AND  TRAFALGAR  73 

Spartel,  guarding  the  entrance  on  that  side,  the 
Promontorium  Ampelusia,  with  an  even  more  power- 
ful light  maintained  on  this  Moroccan  coast  by  the 
maritime  powers  of  Europe,  and  having  a  sea  range 
of  twenty-five  miles.  The  Moorish  title  of  Trafal- 
gar, from  which  its  present  name  is  derived,  was 
Tarf-al-agharr,,  the  "  Cape  of  the  cave,"  in  allusion  to 
a  neighboring  grotto. 

In  1804,  Napoleon  was  busily  preparing  for  the 
invasion  of  England,  collecting  an  enormous  army 
at  Boulogne  in  the  winter  of  1804-5  to  cross  the 
channel  and  land  on  the  English  coast  under  pro- 
tection of  his  fleet,  to  which  Spain,  then  in  Bona- 
partist  control,  lent  all  its  naval  aid.  But  Lord 
Nelson  crushed  the  combined  Erench  and  Spanish 
fleets  in  the  victory  at  Trafalgar,  paying  with  his 
own  life  for  a  success  which  at  that  time  destroyed 
the  naval  power  of  both  France  and  Spain.  For 
nearly  two  years  prior  to  March,  1805,  the  French 
fleets  had  been  bottled  up  by  the  English  in  Brest 
and  Toulon.  But  during  March  the  French  Admiral 
Villeneuve  escaped  from  Toulon,  his  mission  being 
to  join  Gravina's  Spanish  squadron,  cross  the  Atlan- 
tic to  the  West  'Indies,  and  then  returning,  relieve 
the  other  French  and  Spanish  fleets  blockaded  in 
various  ports,  and  go  to  the  English  Channel  with  a 
vast  armada  of  over  fifty  ships  of  the  line,  so  as  to 
cover  the  crossing  to  England  of  the  French  invading 
army  from  Boulogne.  Nelson  had  chased  the 


74  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

French  ships  in  various  directions  but  lost  track  of 
them  for  much  of  the  time.  Villeneuve  and  Gra- 
vina,  after  spreading  terror  through  the  West  Indies, 
returned  to  Cadiz,  anchoring  in  the  Spanish  harbor, 
where  Nelson,  who  had  been  given  the  supreme  com- 
mand, soon  found  them,  and  he  came  outside  Cadiz 
ready  for  the  attack  in  September,  1805,  with  a  fleet 
including  thirty-three  ships,  Villeneuve  and  Gravina 
having  about  forty  vessels,  of  which  thirty-three  were 
ships  of  the  line.  Nelson  tried  his  best  to  get  them 
to  come  out  for  a  fight,  and  the  situation  became 
such  that  Villeneuve  resorting  to  various  expedients 
to  avoid  a  battle,  Napoleon  finally  stigmatized  him 
as  a  feeble  coward,  and  sent  peremptory  orders  to 
him  to  go  out  and  give  Nelson  battle,  as  everything 
depended  upon  it.  Nelson  kept  most  of  his  ships 
off  shore  so  as  not  to  be  seen,  and  finally  a  false 
report  coming  to  Cadiz  that  there  were  only  twenty 
British  ships  in  the  offing,  the  French  and  Spanish 
fleets  sailed  out  of  Cadiz  harbor,  October  20. 

Nelson  planned  to  break  the  enemy's  line  at  two 
points,  by  dividing  the  British  fleet  into  two  col- 
umns, the  northern  headed  by  himself  in  the  Vic- 
tory, and  the  other  by  Admiral  Collingwood,  in  the 
Royal  Sovereign.  When  the  enemy  came  out  from 
Cadiz  they  found  a  broad,  crescent-shaped  line  com- 
posed of  two  rows  of  ships,  the  rear  ships  covering 
the  spaces  intervening  between  those  in  the  front 
line.  At  daybreak  on  the  morning  of  the  21st,  Vil- 


CADIZ  AND  TRAFALGAR  75 

leneuve's  fleet  was  sighted  coming  down  the  coast  off 
Cape  Trafalgar  to  engage  the  British,  kelson  at 
once  ordered  his  columns  to  advance  toward  the 
enemy,  and  deafening  cheers  broke  from  the  British 
crews  when  he  hoisted  the  famous  signal  on  the  flag- 
ship Victory,,  "  England  expects  that  every  man  will 
do  his  duty,"  a  signal  of  which  Southey  said  in  his 
life  of  the  hero,  that  it  "  will  be  remembered  as  long 
as  the  language,  or  even  the  memory,  of  England 
shall  endure."  It  is  said  that  Villeneuve  when  he 
heard  the  vigorous  shouting  was  much  affected  by 
it,  so  that  he  lost  heart  before  the  combat  began 
and  exclaimed  to  his  officers,  "  All  is  lost."  The 
Royal  Sovereign  being  the  swiftest  sailer,  Colling- 
wood's  ship  advanced  ahead  of  Nelson's,  and  also 
of  the  rest  of  the  fleet,  and  became  the  first  engaged, 
penetrating  the  centre  of  the  enemy's  line.  As  Nel- 
son  saw  this,  he  pointed  to  the  advancing  ship,  and 
said,  "  See  how  that  noble  fellow  Collingwood  car- 
ries his  ship  into  action."  Almost  at  the  same  in- 
stant a  remark  -of  Collingwood's  to  his  captain  was 
recorded,  made  as  if  in  response  to  that  of  his  com- 
mander, "  What  would  Nelson  give  to  be  here  ?  " 
The  valor  and  skill  shown  by  Collingwood  had  a 
powerful  influence.  His  ship  closed  with  the  Spanish 
Admiral  Gravina's  flagship,  the  Santa  Anna,  pour- 
ing in  such  rapid  and  unerring  broadsides  that  she 
was  on  the  eve  of  striking  almost  before  another 
British  ship  had  fired  a  gun.  Several  of  her  con- 


T6  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

sorts  seeing  the  peril  of  the  Spaniard  came  to  her 
assistance  and  hemmed  in  the  Royal  Sovereign  on 
all  sides,  but  the  latter  was  soon  relieved  by  the  more 
tardy  squadron  coming  up,  and  then  the  Santa  Anna 
struck  her  colors.  The  French  and  Spanish  line  was 
quickly  pierced,  most  of  their  ships  scarcely  firing 
a  shot.  Divided,  scattered  and  overpowered  at  every 
point,  the  allied  fleet  was  soon  a  disabled  and  helpless 
mass  of  fragments,  pursued  by  the  conquerors.  It 
was  one  of  the  most  crushing  naval  defeats  in  his- 
tory, almost  two-thirds  of  the  allied  fleet  being  either 
destroyed  or  captured,  and  the  French  and  Spanish 
navies  were  for  the  time  swept  from  the  ocean.  But 
in  his  hour  of  greatest  triumph,  Nelson  was  killed. 
A  musket  ball  fired  from  one  of  the  Redoubtable' 's 
tops,  with  which  ship  the  Victory  was  engaged,  in- 
flicted a  mortal  wound  on  Nelson  about  an  hour  after 
the  battle  began,  and  toward  evening,  he  died.  Thus 
cut  off  in  his  prime,  at  the  early  age  of  47,  the  death 
of  the  greatest  naval  hero  England  had  produced, 
caused  a  profound  sensation.  His  remains  were  taken 
to  London  and  interred  in  St.  Paul's  Cathedral  the 
following  January,  and  as  a  superb  memorial  the 
Nelson  Column,  bearing  his  statue,  and  guarded  by 
the  four  famous  British  lions,  was  erected  in  Trafal- 
gar Square  in  the  heart  of  the  English  capital. 

A  few  days  before  the  battle  Nelson  planned  it 
practically  as  it  was  fought,  writing  a  "  General 
Memorandum,"  which  was  given  to  his  ship  captains. 


CADIZ  AND  TRAFALGAR  77 

The  original  draft  of  this  famous  document  in  Nel- 
son's handwriting  came  into  possession  of  Admiral 
Munday,  who  prior  to  his  death  gave  all  his  papers 
to  his  valet  in  an  old  desk,  which  the  valet  in  turn 
bequeathed  to   his  son,   a   London  omnibus   driver. 
In  October,  1905,  the  Trafalgar  Centenary  was  cele- 
brated in  England,  causing  much  talk,  and  a  pas- 
senger on  the  omnibus  happened  to  ask  the  driver 
a   question   about  Kelson,   which   drew  the   answer 
that  he  had  a  letter  which  Nelson  had  written.     The 
passenger  asked  to  see  it  and  oifered  $50  and  a  suit 
of  clothes  for  it.     The  wary  driver,  however,  did 
not  sell  for  that,  but  talked  to  other  passengers,  the 
result  being  that  he  had  it  offered  at  Christie's  auc- 
tion in  London  and  in  March,  1906,  it  was  sold  there 
for  $18,000,  and  it  is  understood  will  go  ultimately 
to  the  British  Museum.     The  log  of  Nelson's  ship 
Victory  thus  recorded  his  death  on  October  21,  1905  : 
"  Partial  firing  continued  until  4.30,  when,  a  vic- 
tory having  been  reported  to  the  Right  Honourable 
Lord  Viscount  Nelson,  K.  B.,  and  Commander-in- 
Chief,  he  then  died  of  his  wound."     Nelson  is  re- 
garded by  the  people  of  England  as  the  greatest  of 
the  nation's  heroes.     Sir  Cyprian  Bridge  said  he  was 
"  the  only  man  who  has  ever  lived,  who  by  universal 
consent  is  without  a  peer."     Lord  Eoseberry  said, 
"  There  is  no  figure  like  his  among  those  who  have 
ploughed  the  weary  seas,"  and  that  he  is  "  the  great- 
est of  our  heroes  and  the  dearest  to  ourselves;  we 


78  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

feel  this  in  the  marrow  of  our  bones  though  we 
cannot  so  readily  explain  it."  Captain  Mahan,  the 
American  naval  authority,  has  written  that  he  is 
"  the  embodiment  of  the  sea  power  of  Great  Britain." 
The  result  of  this  crushing  blow  of  Trafalgar  was 
that  Xapoleon  abandoned  his  project  for  invading 
England.  This  wonderful  military  genius  then  con- 
ceived the  idea  of  taking  the  army  he  had  gathered 
at  Boulogne,  and  by  quick  movement  crossing  the 
Rhine  and  attacking  his  enemies  of  Russia  and  Aus- 
tria. On  December  2,  1805,  he  confronted  them, 
commanded  by  their  emperors,  on  the  field  of  Aus- 
terlitz  in  Moravia,  each  side  having  about  eighty 
thousand  men  in  this  noted  conflict,  often  called  the 
"  Battle  of  the  Three  Emperors."  In  the  early 
morning  the  "  Sun  of  Austerlitz "  shone  brightly 
over  the  battlefield,  giving  Xapoleon  a  good  omen,  of 
which  he  often  afterward  spoke;  he  completely  de- 
feated the  allied  army,  and  enforced  a  treaty  of  peace 
which  was  thoroughly  disastrous  to  Austria. 

ENTERING  THE  GIBRALTAR  STRAIT. 

Beyond  Cape  Trafalgar,  the  Spanish  coast  trends 
to  the  eastward,  behind  the  shallow  Barbate  Bay, 
while  farther  east  the  interior  land  surface  rises  in 
the  hills  of  the  Sierras  de  la  Luna,  and  de  los  Gazules, 
which  become  almost  mountains.  The  coast  is  al- 
most entirely  treeless,  but  dotted  by  numerous 
atalayas,  the  ancient  watch-towers,  put  here  by  the 


ENTERING  THE  GIBRALTAR  STRAIT  79 

Moors,  and  later  by  the  Spaniards  to  spy  out  the 
invading  forces  so  often  coming  over  from  Africa, 
the  coast  of  Morocco  now  being  in  full  view.  The 
mountain  chain  projects  in  the  Punta  Marroqui,  the 
southernmost  point  of  Europe,  while  far  away  over 
the  water,  in  Africa,  are  seen  the  white  houses  of 
Tangier  off  to  the  southwest,  fringing  a  pleasant, 
curving  bay.  At  the  base  of  the  Punta  Marroqui  is 
the  ancient  Moorish  town  of  Tarifa,  its  fortifications 
obsolete  and  in  partial  decay,  with  a  picturesque 
Moorish  castle  on  the  point,  and  a  guiding  light- 
house. Here  the  Moors  levied  revenue  from  vessels 
passing  the  Strait  of  Gibraltar,  the  Spaniards  con- 
tinuing this  toll  until  the  result  of  protracted  wars 
abolished  the  dues.  From  the  name  of  Tarifa  and 
its  tribute  levy  is  derived  the  significant  word 
"  tariff  "  now  in  such  general  use. 

Rounding  Tarifa  the  steamer  is  within  the  strait, 
and  the  Spanish  coast  then  trends  northeast  toward 
the  bay  of  Gibraltar,  the  African  coast  running  al- 
most parallel,  and  the  passage  between  them  being 
about  eight  miles  wide  at  the  narrowest  point  be- 
tween Tarifa  and  Siris  in  Africa,  to  the  southeast. 
High  hills  are  behind  both  shores,  and  the  navigation 
between  is  generally  difficult,  on  account  of  the  eddy- 
ing, changeable  winds  from  the  land,  and  the  strong 
currents.  The  surface  water  always  flows  from  the 
Atlantic  into  the  Mediterranean  and  often  with  a 
speed  of  five  miles  an  hour.  The  current  beneath  is 


80  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

more  salt  and  heavier,  having  its  set  westward.  The 
Gazules  hills  rise  on  the  northern  shore,  while  on 
the  African  side  are  the  Sierra  Bullones,  higher  hills 
culminating  in  the  famous  hill  of  Abyla,  elevated 
2,710  feet.  Rounding  the  Punta  Carnero  into  the 
Bay  of  Gibraltar  the  gigantic  Rock  comes  into  full 
view.  Thus  we  see  the  "  Pillars  of  Hercules,"  the 
Calpe  of  Europe  and  the  Abyla  of  Africa,  about 
twelve  miles  apart,  the  ancient  guardians  of  the 
Mediterranean,  westward  beyond  which  was  then 
the  land  of  the  unknown,  but  now  the  gateway  to  the 
wonderful  scenery  and  wealth  of  the  Orient  Dante 
described  this  gateway  as 

The  straight  pass  where  Hercules  ordained 
The  boundaries  not  to  be  o'erstepped  by  men. 


THE  FORTRESS  AND  THE  PALACE 


II 


THE  FORTRESS  A^D  THE  PALACE 

The  Mediterranean  Sea — The  Rock  of  Gibraltar — The  Neutral 
Ground — La  Lanea — Gibraltar  Town — Algeciras — The  Eock's 
Defences — Its  History — Its  Fourteen  Sieges — The  Great 
Siege— Old  Eliott— The  Final  Attack  and  Repulse  of  Sep- 
tember, 1782 — The  Fortress  To-Day — Ronda — Bobadilla — 
Malaga — Antequera — The  Jenil — Loja — Alhama — Illora — Pi- 
nos  Puente — Santa  F£ — Granada — The  Darro — The  Albaicin 
— The  Alhambra  Palace — The  Alcazaba — The  Alameda — 
The  Generalife — Attractions  of  the  Alhambra — Charles  V's 
Palace — Granada  Cathedral — Downfall  of  the  Moslems — 
Boabdil's  Flight — Last  Sigh  of  the  Moor. 

THE    ROCK    OF    GIBRALTAR. 

Thou  art  the  Rock  of  Empire,  set  mid-seas 

Between  the  East  and  West,  that  God  has  built; 
Advance  thy  Roman  borders  where  thou  wilt, 

While  run  thy  armies  true  with  his  decrees, 

Law,  justice,  liberty  —  great  gifts  are  these. 

Watch  that  they  spread  where  English  blood  is  spilt, 
Lest,  mixed  and  sullied  with  his  country's  guilt, 

The  soldier's  life-stream  flow,  and  Heaven  displease! 

In  the  olden  time,  the  peoples  living  on  the  shores 
of  the  Mediterranean  believed  their  great  inland 
sea  was  the  centre  of  the  universe.  They  knew  it 
was  the  centre  of  the  earth  for  them  and  hence  came 
its  name.  The  Phoenicians,  Greeks  and  Romans  had 

83 


84  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

gradually  extended  their  explorations  and  voyages 
over  the  neighboring  and  even  more  distant  regions 
of  land  and  water,  and  this  confirmed  their  belief, 
especially  as  their  erroneous  astronomical  theories 
made  the  sun,  moon  and  stars  all  revolve  around  the 
earth,  of  which  this  great  sea  was  the  centre.  The 
Mediterranean  extends  from  Gibraltar  at  the  west  to 
Syria  at  the  east,  about  twenty-one  hundred  miles, 
with  a  varying  width  of  two  hundred  and  fifty 
to  five  hundred  miles,  the  coast  being  much  indented 
by  auxiliary  seas  and  bays,  and  it  covers  a  surface 
of  about  one  million  square  miles.  The  shallowest 
depth  is  off  the  entrance  fifty  miles  west  of  Gibraltar, 
where  a  ridge  extends  across  from  Spain  to  Africa, 
less  than  two  hundred  fathoms  beneath  the  surface. 
This  ridge  falls  sharply  off  westward  toward  the  At- 
lantic, but  eastward  slopes  more  gently,  reaching  a 
thousand  fathoms  depth  about  one  hundred  and 
twenty  miles  east  of  Gibraltar,  and  sixteen  hundred 
fathoms  off  the  coast  of  Algiers.  The  deepest  water 
is  in  the  widest  portion  of  the  sea,  between  Malta  and 
Crete,  the  maximum  depth  being  twenty-one  hundred 
and  fifty  fathoms.  The  Mediterranean  waters  are 
heavier  and  much  salter  than  the  Atlantic,  as  the  ex- 
treme dryness  of  the  atmosphere  over  the  sea  pro- 
motes evaporation,  while  the  amount  of  fresh  water 
contributed  by  the  rainfall  and  the  inflowing  rivers 
is  comparatively  small.  The  evaporation  is  esti- 
mated as  being  at  least  double  these  supplies,  and  it 


THE  ROCK  OF  GIBRALTAR  85 

constantly  tends  to  reduce  the  level  of  the  surface, 
thus  producing  the  strong  inflow  current  of  lighter 
and  less  salt  water  through  the  Strait  of  Gibraltar, 
preserving  both  the  level  and  the  relative  salinity  of 
the  Mediterranean  waters.  The  tidal  changes  are 
small,  unlike  the  large  tides  in  the  Atlantic.  The 
vast  body  of  water  in  that  extensive  sea,  which  in 
reality  ranks  as  an  ocean,  has  a  controlling  influence 
in  preserving  the  equalization  of  temperature  on  the 
adjacent  shores. 

Guarding  the  entrance  to  the  Mediterranean  stands 
the  huge  rock  of  Gibraltar  like  an  enormous  re- 
cumbent lion  crouching  on  the  sea,  with  his  head 
pointed  northward  toward  Spain.  This  is  the  great- 
est fortress  in  the  world,  and  for  more  than  two  cen- 
turies has  been  held  by  England.  To  the  arriving 
visitor,  coming  in  from  the  Atlantic,  the  dark  gray 
rock,  while  rising  majestically  from  the  water,  pre- 
sents a  bare  and  almost  barren  aspect,  especially  when 
the  summer  suns  have  dried  up  the  verdure.  Nearly 
three  miles  long,  it  is  outlined  against  the  blue  sky, 
with  the  standard  of  England  flying  from  the  top- 
most ridge.  But  on  nearer  approach  there  is  dis-  • 
closed  a  considerable  covering  of  verdure,  with  here 
and  there  a  grassy  glen  giving  shelter  to  a  group  of 
trees,  and  luxuriant  gardens  surrounding  some  of  the 
villas  nestling  at  its  base.  In  January  and  Febru- 
ary, gladdened  by  the  rains,  portions  of  the  enormous 
rock  present  a  charming  sight  from  the  profusion  and 


86  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

beauty  of  the  wild  flowers.  Many  visitors  have  ad- 
mired and  described  it.  Thackeray  said  it  was  "  the 
very  image  of  an  enormous  lion,  crouched  between 
the  Atlantic  and  the  Mediterranean,  and  set  there  to 
guard  the  passage  for  its  British  mistress."  The 
German  Kaiser  William  on  his  visit  in  March,  1904, 
had  his  first  view  of  the  rock,  and  said  it  quite 
reached  his  expectations,  adding,  "  It  is  grand,  like 
everything  English ;  I  am  not  surprised  that  Gibraltar 
is  impregnable  " ;  and  the  Kaiser  made  a  second  visit 
in  March,  1905. 

The  famous  Rock  is  a  long  and  comparatively 
narrow  peninsula  projected  almost  due  southward, 
between  the  Mediterranean  on  the  eastern  side,  and 
the  bay  of  Gibraltar  or  Algeciras  on  the  west.  It  is 
only  about  three-quarters  of  a  mile  broad  at  the 
widest  part,  and  is  almost  entirely  surrounded  by 
water,  being  united  to  Spain  by  a  flat  sandy  isthmus 
less  than  two  miles  long  and  only  a  half-mile  wide. 
To  the  south,  adjoining  the  Rock,  this  isthmus  is 
British  territory;  then  the  fortified  line  of  outer  de- 
fence is  constructed  across,  beyond  which  northward 
is  the  "  Neutral  Ground,"  extending  about  sixteen 
hundred  feet  between  the  British  and  Spanish  fron- 
tiers, and  adorned  by  rows  of  sentry  boxes,  occupied 
by  the  respective  outposts.  To  the  northward,  on  this 
border  line,  is  the  undefended  and  somewhat  strag- 
gling Spanish  frontier  town  of  La  Linea  de  la  Con- 
ception, whose  population  cultivate  the  vegetable  gar- 


THE  ROCK  OF  GIBRALTAR  187 

dens  supplying  Gibraltar,  and  also  provide  laborers 
for  the  post.  Stretching  along  the  Bay  of  Gibraltar 
on  the  narrow  surface  at  the  base  of  the  Rock,  at  its 
northwestern  and  western  sides,  is  the  town  of  Gi- 
braltar, and  here  is  being  constructed  the  elaborate 
new  harbor  and  dockyard  for  the  post.  At  the  north- 
ern verge  of  the  town  on  an  elevation  is  the  old  Moor- 
ish castle,  the  earliest  defensive  work  of  the  noted 
fortress,  dating  from  the  eighth  century,  and  having 
a  charming  outlook.  Out  in  front  of  it  and  far  be- 
low, among  the  cemeteries,  camps  and  gardens  on  the 
lower  ground,  and  starting  from  the  harbor's  edge, 
runs  due  northward  the  "  Road  to  Spain,"  a  highway 
with  a  history  covering  a  dozen  centuries.  The  Bay 
of  Gibraltar  to  the  westward  of  the  Rock  is  a  curving 
inlet  from  the  sea  about  seven  miles  long  and  four  to 
five  miles  wide,  but  only  an  indifferent  harbor,  being 
exposed  both  to  southwest  and  easterly  winds,  so  that 
the  Gibraltar  post  has  to  be  protected  by  artificial 
breakwaters  and  moles.  Across  this  bay  is  the  white 
town  of  Algeciras,  the  Moorish  Al-Geziraral-Kalidra 
or  the  "  Green  Island,"  nestling  under  the  foothills  of 
the  Sierra  de  los  Gazules.  Algeciras  came  into 
prominence  in  1906,  the  Moroccan  Conference  of  the 
European  Powers  meeting  there  in  the  spring,  which 
on  April  7  signed  the  convention  that  arranged  for 
the  policing  and  control  of  that  disturbed  country. 
In  front  of  the  town  is  the  ancient  "  Green  island," 
now  the  Spanish  Isla  Verde.  There  are  some  Moor- 


88  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

ish  survivals  in  this  settlement,  which  was  among  the 
earliest  made  by  the  Moslems  in  Spain,  but  various 
wars  practically  destroyed  the  place,  and  two  cen- 
turies ago  it  was  repeopled  by  Spaniards,  who  left 
Gibraltar  upon  the  English  occupation.  The  greater 
port  of  the  Gibraltar  Hock,  however,  has  entirely 
eclipsed  it,  and  now  it  has  no  trade  to  speak  of,  ex- 
cepting a  small  export  of  cork  from  the  adjacent  for- 
ests. To  the  eastward  of  the  Rock  is  the  broad 
Mediterranean,  and  to  the  southward,  off  its  termina- 
tion at  Europa  Point,  is  the  Strait,  and  twelve  miles 
away,  but  in  full  sight,  the  African  coast  and  its  hills 
culminating  in  the  other  Pillar  of  Hercules,  now 
called  the  Hill  of  Apes.  Gibraltar  has  a  good  trade, 
and  is  the  popular  port  of  call  for  Mediterranean 
shipping,  several  thousand  vessels  passing  annually. 
The  basic  rock  of  Gibraltar  is  for  the  most  part 
a  construction  of  Jurassic  grayish  white  limestone 
of  compact  texture.  Above  the  limestone  are  a  series 
of  dark  grayish  blue  shales,  with  veins  of  sandstone 
and  limestone,  breccia  and  beds  of  sand.  The  geo- 
logical theory  about  it  is,  that  anciently  it  formed 
part  of  an  isthmus  connecting  Europe  with  Africa, 
with  long  periods  of  elevation  and  depression,  the 
final  depression  having  produced  the  present  inter- 
vening strait.  Like  all  limestone  formations,  the 
Rock  is  honeycombed  with  caverns  and  subterraneous 
passages,  so  that  it  has  been  given  also  the  popular 
title  of  the  "  Hill  of  Caves."  This  peculiarity  of 


THE  ROCK  OF  GIBRALTAR  89 

formation  has  been  availed  of  in  the  construction  of 
galleries  for  defence  of  which  there  are  many  miles 
within  the  rock,  and  particularly  at  its  northern  end 
facing  toward  Spain.  The  Rock  rises  in  a  longitudi- 
nal ridge,  elevated  at  the  north  in  Mount  Rockgun, 
1356  feet,  on  the  lion's  head,  then  having  an  inter- 
vening lower  saddle,  and  to  the  southward  El  Hache, 
the  signal  station,  1295  feet,  and  the  highest  point, 
1396  feet,  and  finally  at  the  southern  end  of  the  ridge 
O'Hara's  Tower,  1361  feet  high,  where  it  falls  off  to 
a  plateau,  and  then  a  lower  level  terminating  in  Eu- 
ropa  Point.  The  northern  face  toward  Spain  and 
the  eastern  side  toward  the  Mediterranean,  are  almost 
vertical  precipices  needing  no  special  defences,  as  it 
is  apparently  impossible  to  scale  them,  though  the 
northern  face  is  elaborately  protected  by  the  extensive 
galleries  making  that  front  bristle  with  cannon  point- 
ing over  the  "  Xeutral  Ground,"  and  thus  defending 
the  town  and  post  from  an  attack.  The  southern 
and  western  sides  descend  more  gradually  in  step- 
like  terraces.  Cactus  plants  overrun  many  of  the 
slopes,  and  here  live  rabbits  and  some  Barbary 
partridges,  while  a  troop  of  a  score  or  two  of  little 
Barbary  apes  or  Magots  have  made  their  homes  on 
the  Rock  and  are  said  to  be  the  only  wild  monkeys 
in  Europe.  These  little  pets  are  highly  prized  and 
carefully  protected,  and  the  rare  case  of  a  birth 
among  them  is  duly  chronicled  in  the  society  intelli- 
gence of  the  newspapers.  So  greatly  esteemed  are 


90  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

they  that  the  Gibraltar  proverb  is  "  Better  kill  the 
Governor,  than  the  '  Major/  "  who  is  their  venerable 
chief. 

The  Rock  is  defended  in  the  most  elaborate  way 
and  is  regarded  as  thoroughly  impregnable.  There 
are  mounted  in  its  casemates  and  batteries  over  two 
thousand  guns,  including  the  heaviest  and  most  pow- 
erful cannon  of  modern  construction,  some  of  which 
are  placed  upon  the  highest  elevations,  whence  they 
can  bring  to  bear  in  action,  a  plunging  fire  down 
upon  the  decks  of  attacking  ships;  and  having  a 
range  of  eight  or  ten  miles,  the  weakest  part  of  the 
most  powerful  armored  battleship  is  thus  at  the 
mercy  of  the  gunners.  In  addition,  the  harbor  and 
dockyard  improvements  are  making  Gibraltar  an 
auxiliary  naval  station  of  the  first  class  for  the  rein- 
forcement of  the  fortress  in  controlling  the  passage 
of  the  strait.  The  garrison  in  peace  is  five  thousand 
to  six  thousand  men,  but  in  time  of  war  the  numbers 
can  if  necessary  be  greatly  enlarged,  for  there  are 
stores  and  water-cisterns  ample  to  supply  a  hundred 
thousand  men  for  over  two  years.  The  guns  bristle 
at  the  base  and  all  about  the  upper  parts  of  the  huge 
Rock,  while  ample  batteries  defend  Europa  Point, 
the  southern  termination,  which  is  crowned  by  a 
lighthouse.  This  "  Key  to  the  Mediterranean  "  is 
a  fortress,  winter-resort,  town  and  seaport  combined, 
controlling  the  passage  to  Egypt,  the  Levant  and  the 
Orient,  and  the  important  traffic  of  the  Suez  Canal. 


THE  ROCK  OF  GIBRALTAR  91 

The  town  has  narrow  streets  and  crowded  houses, 
terraced  up  the  slopes  of  the  Rock,  to  a  height  of 
nearly  three  hundred  feet  above  the  water,  and  de- 
veloping into  the  attractive  villas  of  its  southern 
suburb,  where  the  balmy  air  favors  the  growth  of 
shrubbery  and  flowers,  decking  the  window-sills,  nod- 
ding over  the  walls,  and  climbing  up  the  cliffs  around 
the  casemates  of  the  guns.  There  are  huge  oleanders 
and  cactus  plants,  tall  hedges  of  geranium  and  helio- 
trope, and  almost  all  the  time  a  delicious  bloom  and 
fragrance.  The  Alameda,  the  only  parade  ground, 
though  restricted,  occupies  a  good  deal  of  surface  and 
has  attractive  gardens.  There  is  in  the  town  a  de- 
velopment of  all  nationalities,  with  relics  of  the 
Moorish  rule,  though  it  has  a  distinctively  Spanish 
aspect.  British  soldiers  in  bright  scarlet  jackets  and 
little  nobby  caps  hanging  jauntily  on  the  side  of  the 
head,  brawny  Highlanders  in  kilts,  and  numerous 
yellow-slippered,  bare-legged  Moors  with  brilliant  tur- 
bans and  loose  flowing  costumes,  and  Portuguese  and 
Spanish  donkey  drivers  predominate  and  color  the 
scene.  Mounting  to  the  top  of  the  famous  Rock, 
there  is  a  gorgeous  view.  To  the  southwestward  over 
the  water,  the  ocean  meets  the  sea  where  the  distant 
Punta  Marroqui  protrudes  beyond  the  hills  at 
Tarifa,  while  southward  beyond  the  strait  are  the 
distant  coast  and  hills  of  Africa,  far  away.  Kearer, 
across  the  western  bay,  the  white  cottages  of  Algeciras 
nestle  along  the  shore  with  the  Gazules  hills  behind 


92  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

them,  and  the  railroad  going  out  to  the  northward 
that  is  the  traveller's  route  into  Spain.  The  harbor 
works  and  quays  and  shipping  are  at  one's  feet,  and 
northward  to  the  right,  the  little  town  of  Gibraltar 
fades  away  past  cemeteries  and  gardens  into  the 
Xeutral  Ground  with  its  distant  rows  of  sentry  boxes 
for  the  outposts,  and  the  white  village  of  La  Linea 
beyond.  Then  the  Spanish  Mediterranean  shore 
runs  off  to  the  far  northeast,  with  the  distant  ranges 
of  mountains  culminating  in  the  snowy  outlines  of 
Spain's  highest  peaks,  in  the  far-away  Sierra  Nevada 
of  Granada.  The  limitless  Mediterranean  spreads 
to  the  horizon  eastward,  and  all  about  its  surface  are 
dotted  moving  vessels,  the  steamers  leaving  long  trails 
of  black  smoke  to  mark  their  paths. 

HISTORY    OF    THE    FORTRESS. 

With  the  dawning  of  historical  records  the  Phoe- 
nicians came  here  and  made  their  settlement  of  Calpe 
in  what  is  now  the  Bay  of  Gibraltar,  while  the  Car- 
thaginians were  also  known  in  this  region  anterior 
to  the  Christian  era,  but  the  locality  got  its  first  fame, 
and  the  Rock  its  name,  from  the  Moorish  invasion  of 
711,  their  earliest  appearance  in  Spain.  Musa,  the 
African  viceroy  over  in  Mauritania,  of  the  Caliph  of 
Damascus,  sent  across  the  strait  a  plundering  expedi- 
tion under  the  Arab  Tank  ibn  Zijad,  landing  near 
Algeciras.  From  this  the  Rock  was  given  the  name 
of  Jebal  al  Tarik,  the  "  hill  of  Tarik,"  which  has 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FORTRESS  93 

been  gradually  changed  to  Gibraltar.  Two  years 
later  Tarik  built  the  first  defensive  work  on  the  Rock, 
and  it  was  extended  and  strengthened  during  a  score 
of  years  subsequently,  making  the  present  somewhat 
battered  Moorish  castle  in  the  town  of  Gibraltar. 
For  six  centuries  the  Moors  held  it,  enlarging  the 
fortifications  and  defensive  walls,  and  it  was  first 
captured  by  the  Christians  in  the  reign  of  Ferdinand 
IV,  who  held  it  twenty-three  years,  when  the  Moors 
recaptured  it  in  1333,  and  were  again  in  possession 
more  than  a  century.  Duke  Guzman  of  Medina 
Sidonia,  the  district  to  the  northward,  ousted  them 
in  1462,  and  it  was  afterward  a  Spanish  possession. 
The  Algerian  pirates  attacked  and  plundered  it,  but 
the  Spaniards  greatly  strengthened  the  works  in  the 
middle  of  the  sixteenth  century,  extending  them  to 
the  crest  of  the  Rock.  Prior  to  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury it  had  undergone  ten  sieges  and  seen  many  mas- 
ters, and  then  it  came  under  English  control.  The 
long  "  War  of  the  Spanish  Succession  "  had  begun, 
in  which  England  had  taken  the  side  of  an  Austrian 
archduke,  proclaimed  as  king  Charles  III  of  Spain. 
In  this  contest,  Admiral  George  Rooke  in  1704,  had 
taken  an  English  fleet  into  the  Mediterranean,  in  con- 
junction with  Dutch  allies  led  by  Prince  George  of 
Hesse.  After  cruising  about  and  accomplishing  lit- 
tle beyond  landing  Charles  on  Spanish  soil,  the 
Admiral  got  the  idea  of  trying  his  hand  on  Gibral- 
tar. There  was  a  small  Spanish  garrison  of  about 


94:  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

one  hundred  and  fifty  men  when  he  came  along  and 
practically  surprised  them,  and  they  made  a  good 
though  brief  defence  against  overpowering  numbers. 
After  he  had  in  this  eleventh  siege  thrown  about  fif- 
teen thousand  cannon  shot  at  the  works  during  two 
days,  and  occupied  the  town,  they  surrendered,  and 
Eooke  took  possession  for  Charles  III  on  August  4, 
1704.  His  opponent,  Philip  V  (who  ultimately  suc- 
ceeded to  the  Spanish  throne,  the  war  ending  in 
1714,  by  the  failure  of  the  adherents  of  Charles), 
no  sooner  heard  of  this  British  occupation  of  Gibral- 
tar then  he  sought  to  recapture  it,  and  thus  began 
the  twelfth  siege  in  1704-5. 

The  combined  forces  of  France  and  Spain  were 
sent  against  the  Hock  with  a  large  army  and  fleet, 
and  the  attack  was  begun  by  a  desperate  attempt  to 
scale  it.  The  tremendous  cliff  on  the  eastern  face 
toward  the  Mediterranean  rises  almost  sheer  from  the 
water,  over  twelve  hundred  feet.  There  is  indented 
here  near  the  northern  extremity  of  the  Rock  the 
shallow  Catalan  Bay,  which  was  lined  with  fisher- 
men's huts,  and  their  boats  landed  on  a  narrow  beach. 
This  part  of  the  cliff  has  never  been  fortified,  but 
at  that  time  a  Spanish  goatherd  had  found  a  steep 
and  tortuous  path  from  the  beach,  up  which  he 
offered  to  lead  a  storming  party  through  the  clefts 
and  fissures  to  the  top  of  the  Rock,  and  five  hundred 
men  volunteered  for  the  attempt.  They  prepared 
for  the  desperate  enterprise  by  solemn  religious 


HISTORY  OF  THE  FORTRESS  95 

services,  partook  of  the  sacrament,  and  bound  them- 
selves by  oath  to  capture  the  fortress  or  perish  in  the 
attempt.  The  start  was  made  at  night,  in  darkness 
and  silence.  They  toiled  up  the  face  of  the  cliff 
by  a  zigzag  route,  going  gradually  higher  and  south 
from  the  bay,  until  they  reached  St.  Michael's  Cave, 
at  an  elevation  of  nearly  eleven  hundred  feet.  This 
cave  opens  toward  the  eastward  and  is  the  largest  of 
the  stalactite  caves  on  the  Rock,  being  nearly  three 
hundred  feet  long  and  sixty-five  feet  high,  and  it  is 
almost  under  the  highest  part  of  the  crest  of  the 
Rock,  and  is  south  of  the  surmounting  signal  sta- 
tion. Here  they  lay  concealed  until  daybreak,  when 
they  sallied  out,  and  part  of  them  mounted  to  the  top, 
surprising  and  killing  the  guard  at  the  station. 
With  ropes  and  ladders  they  then  aided  the  others  to 
ascend  and  stormed  the  wall  which  the  Spaniards  had 
earlier  built  from  the  town  on  the  western  side  up  to 
the  hill-crest.  By  this  time,  however,  the  English 
garrison  was  fully  aroused  and  the  grenadiers  from 
below  came  rushing  up  the  hill.  They  were  met  by 
a  galling  fire  and  many  fell,  but  reaching  the  top 
they  charged  with  fury  upon  the  invaders,  killing  a 
large  number,  and  forcing  the  others  over  the  preci- 
pice where  they  fell  into  the  sea.  The  Spanish  com- 
mander and  two  hundred  men  were  taken  prisoners, 
including  the  wounded,  and  the  others  were  either 
killed  or  drowned.  This  was  the  first  and  last  at- 
tempt to  take  Gibraltar  by  scaling  the  Rock.  This 


96  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

siege  continued  six  months,  but  was  abandoned  after 
a  loss  of  ten  thousand  men.  The  Peace  of  Utrecht 
in  1714  ended  the  "  War  of  the  Spanish  Succession," 
leaving  Gibraltar  in  English  possession. 

Another  war  broke  out,  and  another  siege  began 
in  1727,  the  thirteenth  of  the  series,  a  Spanish  force 
beleaguering  the  Rock  for  five  months  with  twenty 
thousand  men  but  without  success,  and  the  treaty  of 
Seville  ended  that  conflict  in  1729,  with  the  fortress 
still  held  by  the  English.  There  were  no  further 
conflicts  involving  it  during  a  half  century,  until 
1779,  when  what  is  known  as  the  "  Great  Siege  "  be- 
gan, continuing  nearly  four  years  and  ending  as  the 
others,  in  English  success.  It  is  a  fact  regretted  to 
this  day  by  many  in  England  that  the  original  posses- 
sion of  the  fortress  was  tarnished  in  title,  as  it  was 
taken  ostensibly  for  the  Austrian  Prince  who  claimed 
to  be  "  His  Catholic  Majesty  of  Spain,"  and  as 
Spanish  property,  which  when  the  claim  was  aban- 
doned, ought  possibly  to  have  reverted  to  Spain. 
The  post  was  but  lightly  defended  in  those  days,  and 
the  English  premiers  at  home  did  not  seem  to  value 
it  much,  for  twice  during  the  conflicts  of  the  eight- 
eenth century  they  proposed  to  return  Gibraltar  to 
Spain  in  recompense  for  that  country  not  continuing 
the  alliance  with  France,  and  the  second  of  these  re- 
jected proposals  was  an  English  effort  by  the 
gift  of  Gibraltar  to  prevent  Spain  ceding  Florida  to 
France  at  Napoleon's  behest.  To-day,  however,  the 


THE  GREAT  SIEGE  97 

British  statesman  who  would  seriously  propose  giv- 
ing up  Gibraltar  does  not  exist,  the  determination 
being  constantly  emphasized  that  the  holding  of  the 
Rock  is  essential  to  British  supremacy.  The  London 
Times  says :  "  That  watch-tower  we  still  hold.  Its 
enforced  surrender  would  be  the  doom  of  our  sea- 
power,  and  even  its  voluntary  exchange,  except  on 
terms  of  overwhelming  strategical  advantage,  would 
be  something  like  an  act  of  political  insanity."  Yet 
to  this  day  Gibraltar  is  claimed  by  the  sovereign  of 
Spain  as  part  of  his  dominions,  though  recognized  as 
"  temporarily  in  the  possession  of  the  English,"  and 
all  persons  born  on  the  Rock  are  entitled  to  the  privi- 
leges of  Spanish  subjects.  England  rules  Gibraltar 
both  as  a  military  post  and  as  a  colony,  with  a  Gov- 
ernor, and  the  pleasant  fiction  of  the  "  temporary 
possession  "  is  carried  out  by  various  ceremonial  vis- 
its between  that  official  and  the  Spanish  functionaries 
across  the  "  Neutral  Ground." 

THE    GBEAT    SIEGE. 

The  severest  test  to  which  the  English  possession 
was  ever  put  was  in  the  "  Great  Siege  "  beginning 
in  1779.  The  French  alliance  with  the  American 
colonies,  and  Burgoyne's  surrender  at  Saratoga  in 
1778,  prompted  the  attack,  Spain  then  being  at  war 
with  England.  But  the  fortress,  unlike  previous 
occasions,  had  a  strong  garrison  of  over  five  thousand 

men,  with  ninety-six  cannon  and  a  manly  Governor, 
VOL.  1—7 


98  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

George  Augustus  Eliott,  born  in  Roxburghshire  in 
1718,  a  veteran  in  the  military  service,  who  had 
been  given  command  of  the  Rock  in  1775.  He  was 
sturdy  and  rugged  and  was  familiarly  called  "  Old 
Eliott " ;  and  to  his  skill  and  resource,  much  of  the 
vigor  and  success  of  the  long  defence  were  due.  In 
June,  1779,  by  order  of  the  king  of  Spain,  all  inter- 
course with  Gibraltar  was  cut  off,  but  matters  lay 
dormant  for  months.  The  Spanish  plan  was  to 
starve  out  the  garrison,  so  they  built  a  rampart  across 
the  "  Neutral  Ground,"  preventing  access  by  land, 
and  sent  a  large  fleet  to  maintain  a  blockade.  They 
could  readily  shut  off  supplies  by  land,  but  found  it 
difficult  to  do  so  by  sea,  the  Rock  having  a  circuit 
of  seven  miles  and  many  adventurous  craft  taking 
advantage  of  fog  and  darkness  could  get  in  under 
cover  of  the  guns  with  provisions.  The  blockade, 
however,  worked  so  well  that  the  garrison  soon  were 
on  very  short  supply  and  food  prices  in  the  town 
became  high.  Hunger  was  the  rule,  but  the  noble 
old  Governor  shared  all  the  privations  of  his  men, 
and  on  one  occasion  actually  lived  for  eight  days 
on  four  ounces  of  rice  daily  to  show  them  what  he 
could  do,  taking  neither  meat  nor  wine.  The 
blockade  had  continued  until  January,  1780,  before 
the  garrison  had  their  eyes  gladdened  by  suc- 
cor from  a  British  fleet.  This  squadron  had  de- 
feated the  Spanish  fleet  which  went  out  into  the 
Atlantic  to  meet  the  enemy,  and  could  the  British 


THE  GREAT  SIEGE  99 

ships  have  remained  at  Gibraltar  the  siege  might 
have  ended.  A  large  supply  of  stores  was  landed, 
but  the  fleet  had  to  sail  away  for  service  elsewhere, 
taking  home  to  England  a  large  company  of  women, 
children  and  the  sick.  Then  the  Spaniards  got 
their  warships  together  again  and  renewed  the 
blockade  more  completely  than  before.  But  "  Old 
Eliott "  had  learned  a  lesson ;  with  the  opening 
season  of  1780  he  set  his  troops  at  work  cultivating 
every  available  patch  of  soil  on  the  Rock  and  thus 
raised  needed  vegetables,  so  that  afterward  they 
were  not  so  near  the  starvation  point,  though  illness 
caused  by  the  meagre  diet  put  many  in  the  hospitals, 
and  there  were  also  serious  attacks  of  smallpox  and 
scurvy,  from  the  excessive  use  of  salted  meats.  Just 
then  a  Dutch  vessel  loaded  with  oranges  and 
lemons  came  out  of  Malaga,  and  a  bold  boat's  crew 
capturing  her,  the  cargo  of  fruit  distributed  in  the 
hospitals  was  ravenously  devoured,  and  the  sick  were 
cured.  Thus  matters  continued  until  the  spring  of 
1781,  when  England  sent  another  fleet,  convoying 
merchant  ships,  with  supplies,  arriving  in  April  and 
again  giving  relief  from  the  impending  starva- 
tion. 

This  second  succor  roused  the  Spaniards,  and  con- 
vincing them  that  they  could  not  hope  to  reduce 
Gibraltar  by  blockade,  they  decided  upon  a  bom- 
bardment. Extensive  batteries  had  been  placed 
along  the  adjacent  bay  shores,  with  some  two  hun- 


100  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

dred  and  fifty  cannon  and  mortars  mounted,  and  a 
terrific  firing  began  and  was  continued  six  weeks, 
with  only  two  hours'  intermission  in  the  twenty- 
four.  The  cause  for  the  two  hours  of  silence  is  in- 
teresting. No  Spanish  gentleman  under  any  cir- 
cumstances can  be  deprived  of  his  noontide  siesta, 
that  being  the  national  custom  before  which  even 
war  necessities  must  yield.  The  cannonade  be- 
gan at  daybreak  and  continued  till  noon  —  then 
the  gunners  went  to  sleep,  and  at  two  o'clock  they 
woke  up  and  began  firing  again,  continuing  until 
nightfall.  The  mortars  then  took  up  the  fusillade 
until  daybreak,  for  as  they  need  not  be  aimed 
accurately  they  could  be  worked  in  the  dark.  Thus 
the  booming  roar  of  the  guns  continued,  the  town 
was  soon  burnt,  and  the  garrison  were  in  constant 
peril,  bombs  exploding  at  the  casemates,  and  the 
soldiers  kept  busy  dodging  shells,  of  which  dozens 
at  a  time  were  shrieking  through  the  air.  The 
Spanish  vessels  sailed  around  Europa  Point  each 
night,  and  gave  it  a  deadly  fusillade.  The  British 
troops  were  shelled  out  of  their  quarters  and  their 
families  had  to  abandon  the  town  and  the  settlements 
on  the  Point,  and  they  sought  refuge  in  caves  and 
fissures,  behind  rocks  and  in  tents.  Besides  the 
hail  from  the  guns,  terrific  rain-storms  also  poured 
down  upon  them,  for  it  was  the  wet  season,  and  they 
had  a  most  forlorn  time.  But  these  ills  were  not 
without  their  compensations.  The  rains  replenished 


THE  GREAT  SIEGE  101 

their  water  supply,  and  the  gales  occasionally  cast 
a  Spanish  ship  on  the  Rock,  an  abandoned  wreck, 
which  gave  them  supplies  and  what  was  sadly  needed, 
fuel  for  the  camp-fires.  "  Old  Eliott "  was  every- 
where encouraging  the  disheartened  and  sustaining 
the  spirits  of  his  men. 

There  was  not  much  reply  made  to  the  terrific 
bombardment,  for  the  brave  commander,  always 
anxious  to  husband  his  resources,  saw  that  it  was 
useless  and  only  a  waste  of  ammunition.  The 
Spaniards  therefore  relaxed  the  intensity  of  their 
fusillade,  which  had  made  no  serious  breach,  and 
organized  an  assault.  They  had  been  over  two 
years  at  the  siege  and  the  Rock  still  defied  them, 
so  they  constructed  by  prodigious  labor  a  stupendous 
parallel  across  the  "  Neutral  Ground,"  built  of 
heavy  timbers  and  other  materials,  to  cover  an  attack 
which  was  to  be  aided  by  their  heaviest  guns. 
"  Old  Eliott "  had  watched  this  rampart  gradually 
creep  across  the  isthmus  and  knew  what  was  in- 
tended. Soon  he  made  up  his  mind  that  affairs 
were  getting  ripe  for  an  offensive  movement  on  his 
part.  About  this  time  a  couple  of  discontented 
Walloons  from  Belgium,  who  were  in  the  camp  of 
the  besiegers,  deserted  and  managed  to  get  within 
the  English  lines.  They  were  brought  to  the 
Governor,  and  he  found  one  of  them  very  intelligent. 
Going  with  the  man  to  an  outlook  on  the  Rock 
where  they  could  look  down  into  the  Spanish  camp, 


102  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

"Old  Eliott"  questioned  him.  The  deserter  told 
the  Governor  that  the  parallel  was  nearly  completed, 
and  the  Spaniards  were  planning  an  assault,  but  just 
at  that  moment,  the  construction  being  unfinished,  it 
was  sparsely  guarded,  the  enemy  not  imagining  it 
would  be  attacked.  This  information  decided  the 
Governor  upon  instant  action.  He  had  the  deserter 
confined  so  no  one  could  talk  with  him,  and  called  his 
lieutenants  together,  ordering  an  attack  made  that 
very  night.  At  midnight  two  thousand  men  were 
under  arms  on  the  Alameda,  then  called  the  "  Red 
Sands,"  each  having  "  thirty-six  rounds  of  ammuni- 
tion, with  a  good  flint  in  his  piece,  and  another  in 
his  pocket."  Only  two  drums  were  to  go  with  each 
regiment,  and  no  volunteers,  as  he  did  not  want  any 
inexperienced  men ;  "  no  person  to  advance  before 
the  front,  unless  ordered  by  the  officer  commanding 
the  column,  and  the  most  profound  silence  to  be 
observed."  It  took  nearly  three  hours  to  get  all  in 
readiness. 

About  three  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  November 
26,  1781,  the  moon  having  just  set  beyond  the 
western  bay,  and  all  being  dark  and  still,  the  march 
began,  led  by  two  famous  regiments  that  twenty- 
two  years  before  had  fought  together  in  the  battle 
of  Minden,  Westphalia,  defeating  the  French  in 
1759.  When  the  troops  emerged  from  the  town, 
they  had  about  three-quarters  of  a  mile  to  go  across 
the  isthmus  to  reach  the  enemy's  works.  It  was 


THE  GREAT  SIEGE  103 

not  long  before  their  tramp  was  heard  by  the 
Spanish  sentries,  and  a  few  desultory  shots  told  they 
had  been  discovered.  The  advance  was  quickened; 
in  a  very  few  minutes  they  were  at  the  Spanish 
works;  and  it  was  an  almost  complete  surprise. 
They  rushed  over  the  parapet,  bayoneting  the  few 
Spaniards  who  did  not  flee,  and  spiked  the  mounted 
guns.  At  once  the  parapet  was  set  on  fire,  for 
which  they  had  brought  a  mass  of  inflammable 
material.  "  Old  Eliott,"  who  was  in  the  van,  got 
anxious  about  the  Spanish  wounded  in  the  works, 
for  the  flames  were  mounting  high,  and  he  per- 
sonally brought  out  a  mortally  wounded  officer  whose 
guard  at  a  battery  had  run  away,  but  the  Spaniard 
demurred  at  the  rescue,  saying  he  would  die  at  his 
post,  and  in  a  few  moments  expired.  Within  an 
hour  the  whole  of  the  parallel  was  wrapt  in  flames, 
brilliantly  illuminating  the  isthmus  and  the  Rock, 
and  then  the  Governor  ordered  a  retreat.  As  the 
English  returned  within  their  gates  the  Spanish 
powder  magazines  exploded,  and  the  flames  spread- 
ing, devoured  their  camp,  the  fire  continuing  four 
days,  the  bewildered  besiegers  not  knowing  what  to 
do  to  check  it,  so  that  finally  it  burnt  out  when  noth- 
ing was  left  to  destroy.  This  was  the  famous 
"  Gibraltar  Sortie." 

The  siege  was  continued  with  its  blockade  and 
renewed  bombardments,  and  it  had  attracted  the 
attention  of  the  entire  world.  Elsewhere,  the 


104  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

French,  Spanish  and  other  arms  that  were  com- 
bined against  England,  had  achieved  great  victories. 
The  American  Revolution  was  won  at  Yorktown, 
in  October,  though  the  formal  treaty  of  independence 
had  not  jet  come,  and  the  Allies  against  England 
were  anxious  to  make  an  impression  upon  Gibraltar. 
So  the  French  came  to  the  help  of  the  Spanish, 
and  the  command  of  the  besiegers  was  changed,  the 
Due  de  Crillon,  who  had  recently  captured  Minorca, 
being  made  general  of  the  forces,  and  a  noted  French 
engineer,  the  Chevalier  d' Argon,  was  given  every 
facility  to  construct  the  most  formidable  naval 
armament  to  reduce  the  fortress  that  had  ever  been 
created.  The  garrison  had  their  ninety-six  guns,  the 
best  of  which  carried  a  shot  occasionally  two  miles 
and  a  half,  which  was  considered  a  wonderful  per- 
formance in  those  days.  There  were  no  naval  ships 
at  that  time  able  to  withstand  these  shots,  so  the 
blockading  fleet  was  kept  out  of  range.  The 
Chevalier,  however,  conceived  the  plan  of  construct- 
ing "  battering  ships,"  which  could  withstand  this 
gun  fire,  and  therefore  venture  near  enough  for 
an  attack  that  would  make  a  breach  sufficient 
to  permit  a  storming  party  to  mount  the  walls,  and 
he  was  sure  the  French  grenadiers,  who  had  been 
constant  victors  everywhere  else,  would  then  succeed. 
Ten  of  the  largest  Spanish  three-decked  naval  ships 
were  taken,  their  huge  towering  bulwarks  cut 
down,  and  a  strengthening  method  adopted  which 


THE  GREAT  SIEGE  105 

reduced  them  to  one  broad  deck,  and  in  a  way 
seemed  to  anticipate  the  American  invention  nearly 
a  century  later  of  the  iron-clad.  The  Chevalier 
made  one  deck  over  the  ship  from  stem  to  stern,  on 
which  his  guns  were  placed,  this  deck  being 
strengthened  by  triple  thickness  beneath  of  stout 
oaken  beams  braced  against  the  sides  of  the  hulls, 
and  having  a  copious  layer  of  sand  in  which  the 
cannon-balls  were  to  bury  themselves.  Then  he 
lined  the  structure  with  a  wall  of  cork-wood,  which 
being  elastic  was  to  offer  the  best  resistance  to  the 
shot.  To  protect  the  crews,  the  decks  were  roofed 
over  with  heavy  timbers  covered  by  ropes  and 
hides,  as  the  ancients  did  to  shield  their  as- 
saulting parties  in  sieges  from  showers  of  stones. 
Thus  thoroughly  protected,  the  men  could  work 
their  guns,  and  the  Chevalier  proudly  declared  that 
his  floating  fortresses  "  could  not  be  burnt,  nor  sunk, 
nor  taken."  All  this  preparation  on  the  bay  shores 
to  the  westward  was  in  full  view  of  the  garrison, 
and  they  could  see  the  busy  workmen  and  the  long 
lines  of  mules  bringing  to  the  yards  the  supplies 
and  ammunition,  while  the  deserters  told  of  the 
elaborate  preparations  that  went  on  for  months. 
As  the  work  progressed,  the  confidence  of  the  be- 
siegers grew,  and  the  fever  of  expectation  spread 
throughout  Spain  and  France,  while  the  Count  of 
Artois  (afterward  Charles  X  of  France),  brother 
of  the  French  king,  Louis  XVI,  came  from  Paris  to 


106  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

Gibraltar  to  witness  the  anticipated  surrender  of  the 
fortress.  The  Chevalier  expected  this  result  to 
come  twenty-four  hours  after  the  attack,  and  ridi- 
culed the  suggestion  of  the  more  experienced  army 
commander,  the  Due  de  Crillon,  that  as  much  as  two 
weeks  might  elapse  before  the  Rock  was  actually 
captured.  While  the  preparations  were  going  on, 
the  British  Admiral  Rodney  in  April,  1782,  gained 
a  victory  in  the  West  Indies  over  Count  de  Grasse, 
which  almost  annihilated  the  French  fleet,  and  the 
tidings  of  the  victory  greatly  inspirited  the  long  be- 
leaguered Gibraltar  garrison. 

The  siege  had  continued  over  three  years  when  the 
besiegers'  preparations  for  the  grand  final  assault 
were  completed;  and  all  the  available  naval  power 
of  France  and  Spain  being  concentrated  upon 
Gibraltar,  there  came  to  the  strait  an  additional  fleet 
of  thirty-nine  ships  of  the  line,  arriving  September 
12th,  1782.  This  made  a  besieging  naval  force 
which  was  the  largest  since  the  Spanish  Armada  — • 
fifty  line  of  battle  ships,  with  many  frigates  and 
smaller  vessels,  and  also  a  land  army  of  forty 
thousand  men,  and  hundreds  of  cannon  in  batteries 
along  the  bay  shore  at  every  point  of  vantage. 
"  Old  Eliott "  had  to  bring  against  it  his  ninety- 
six  cannon  and  about  seven  thousand  soldiers  and 
sailors,  but  he  also  held  possession  of  his  stout 
castle,  the  famous  Rock.  The  world  was  watching 
the  expected  performance,  and  as  the  besiegers  were 


THE  GREAT  SIEGE  107 

only  awaiting  the  arrival  of  the  ships,  the  attack 
was  ordered  for  the  following  day.  Soon  after  sun- 
rise on  September  13th,  the  fleet  of  battering  ships 
was  seen  getting  under  way  from  across  the 
bay,  while  the  Spanish  grandees  and  their  French 
guests  with  other  spectators  were  posted  on  high 
ground  within  the  Spanish  lines  to  see  the  fortress 
captured.  The  garrison  was  ready,  too.  Their 
guns  were  all  shotted  and  "  Old  Eliott "  stood 
on  the  best  point  of  outlook,  the  "  King's 
Bastion"  to  give  his  orders.  The  Spaniards 
feeling  sure  that  their  battering  ships  were  shot- 
proof,  no  longer  cared  about  keeping  at  long  range, 
but  came  within  half-gun  shot  of  the  Rock,  and 
moored  in  line  of  battle.  Many  large  boats  were  in 
waiting  full  of  troops,  ready  to  land  when  the  guns 
on  the  Rock  were  silenced.  Everything  was  quiet 
till  the  Governor  from  the  "  King's  Bastion " 
thought  it  time  to  begin  work,  and  he  ordered  fire 
opened  on  the  Spanish  ships.  The  firing  having 
started,  the  ships  answered  from  their  whole  line, 
the  Spanish  shore  batteries  took  up  the  fire,  and  soon 
there  were  four  hundred  guns  playing  on  the  town 
and  ramparts  of  the  fortress,  the  Rock  reechoing  the 
infernal  din  which  came  back  in  responsive  echoes 
from  the  hills  behind  Algeciras.  It  required  some 
time  for  the  Spanish  guns  to  get  the  proper  range, 
but  by  noon  their  fire  was  powerful  and  well-directed, 
so  that  some  of  the  casemates  were  penetrated,  guns 


108  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

were  dismounted,  and  English  soldiers  killed  and 
wounded.  "  Old  Eliott  "  remained  on  the  "  King's 
Bastion/'  and  concentrated  all  his  firing  on  the  Span- 
ish ships,  and  would  not  permit  any  ammunition  to  be 
wasted  upon  the  shore  batteries  —  it  was  the  ships 
he  was  fighting  and  not  the  noisier  and  more  nu- 
merous guns  on  land,  which  could  do  him  no  serious 
harm.  The  defence,  however,  made  little  impression 
on  the  ships.  Though  fired  at  short  range,  the  balls 
from  the  thirty-two  pounders,  the  best  guns,  could 
not  pierce  the  ships'  stout  sides,  and  the  shells  re- 
bounded from  the  roofs  without  doing  much  damage. 
If  this  had  been  the  only  available  defence,  Gibraltar 
might  then  have  fallen,  the  besiegers  being  in  such 
overwhelming  force. 

The  sturdy  commander  of  the  fortress,  however, 
had  learnt  from  the  successful  sortie  the  value  of  fire 
as  an  auxiliary,  and  he  had  begun,  days  before,  the 
preparations  for  using  hot  shot.  Furnaces  had  been 
placed  beside  the  batteries  and  fuel  served  out,  and 
these  were  got  to  a  white  heat,  the  heavy  balls  being 
dropped  into  them  and  kept  there  until  they  were 
glowing  red.  Corners  of  old  houses  were  also 
availed  of  in  the  town  where  the  balls  were  piled  up 
and  surrounded  with  firewood.  Some  of  these 
furnaces  could  bring  a  hundred  balls  to  a  red  heat 
in  a  little  over  an  hour.  Having  found  that  the 
ordinary  cannon  shots  did  little  execution  the  firing 
of  these  hot  balls  was  started.  They  were  carefully 


THE  GREAT  SIEGE  109 

lifted  from  the  furnaces  and  rolled  into  the  muzzles 
of  the  cannons,  it  being  found  that  only  a  very  slight 
elevation  of  the  gun  was  necessary,  and  the  ball  was 
rolled  in  by  gravity.  The  Spanish  ships  had  been 
moored  just  at  the  right  distance  for  this,  and  the 
ball  had  no  sooner  rolled  into  the  gun  when  the  heat 
ignited  the  cartridge  and  it  was  almost  instantly  dis- 
charged at  the  enemy.  At  first  the  rain  of  hot  shot 
made  little  impression.  The  French  engineer,  fully 
expecting  them,  had  pumps  working  on  the  ships, 
pouring  water  upon  the  decks  and  the  layers  of  sand 
where  the  red-hot  balls  buried  themselves  and  were 
soon  made  harmless.  They  were  fired  by  scores,  and 
occasionally  smoke  was  seen  issuing  from  the  ships, 
but  the  crews  quickly  extinguished  the  flames.  The 
firing  had  continued  until  late  in  the  afternoon  before 
there  was  any  appreciable  effect,  and  then,  about  nine 
hours  after  the  cannonade  began,  flames  were  seen 
issuing  from  the  Spanish  Admiral's  ship,  and  soon 
the  fire  grew,  and  as  night  came  was  so  fierce  that  the 
crew  lost  control,  the  blaze  lighting  up  the  entire 
Spanish  line  and  thus  helping  the  aim  of  the  gunners 
on  the  fortress.  Several  other  ships  caught  fire  and 
sent  up  rockets  or  distress  signals,  so  that  boats  came 
from  consorts  for  their  relief.  The  hot  balls  were 
doing  their  work,  and  by  midnight  the  bay  presented 
a  fine  spectacle,  almost  every  Spanish  ship  being  in 
flames.  Then  a  panic  came  upon  the  Spanish 
sailors,  the  flames  mounting  the  rigging,  and  making 


110  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

the  decks  intolerable,  so  the  men  began  jumping 
overboard.  One  of  the  ships  was  in  such  a  blaze 
that  the  powder  magazine  had  to  be  flooded  to  pre- 
vent an  explosion.  Nine  of  the  ten  Spanish  floating 
batteries  were  on  fire,  lighting  up  all  the  bay  shores 
and  the  sombre  Rock,  and  adding  to  the  vast  pall  of 
smoke  overhanging  the  scene.  As  the*  crews  in  panic 
had  abandoned  their  guns  and  jumped  into  the  sea 
for  safety,  the  firing  upon  the  fortress  had  .ceased, 
the  shrieks  of  the  wounded  and  drowning  filled  the 
air,  and  the  scene  became  awful  beyond  description. 
Boats  put  off  from  the  shore  to  pick  up  the  struggling 
men  in  the  water,  and  in  this  rescue  the  English 
heartily  joined.  One  Spanish  ship  blew  up  just  as 
an  English  boat  got  alongside  and  its  coxswain  was 
killed  and  several  of  the  oarsmen  wounded,  but  the 
other  men  stuffed  their  jackets  in  the  broken  sides 
of  the  craft,  and  kept  her  afloat.  The  English  res- 
cued over  three  hundred  and  fifty  of  the  Spaniards, 
caring  for  the  wounded  in  the  hospitals  of  the  for- 
tress. Thus  ended  the  great  attack  by  the  ships 
which  was  to  have  captured  Gibraltar.  The  bay 
was  covered  with  wrecks  as  next  morning's  sun  rose 
on  the  frightful  scene,  but  the  bombardment  con- 
tinued in  desultory  fashion  a  few  days  longer,  though 
the  battle  was  over. 

The  siege  went  on  afterward,  but  without  any  se- 
rious conflict.  No  one  appeared  with  further  sug- 
gestion as  to  a  method  of  taking  the  fortress,  and  the 


THE  GREAT  SIEGE  111 

English  flag  floated  over  it  until  the  Treaty  of  Ver- 
sailles in  1783,  by  which  England  acknowledged  the 
independence  of  the  United  States,  and  the  treaty 
at  the  same  time  formally  declared  the  English 
title  to  Gibraltar  —  England,  France  and  Spain 
then  uniting  in  making  peace.  The  besiegers  got 
the  first  news  of  this  treaty  and  sent  word  to  the 
garrison ;  and  soon  afterward  a  British  frigate  came 
into  the  bay  and  confirmed  it.  Since  then  the  grim 
Rock  has  been  at  peace,  the  world  conceding  that  it 
cannot  be  captured.  General  Eliott  was  made  Lord 
Heathfield  and  Baron  Gibraltar  for  his  stout  defence 
during  nearly  four  years  of  the  great  siege,  and  he 
was  called  home  to  England  in  1787,  the  national 
hero.  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds  painted  his  portrait, 
holding  firmly  in  his  hand  the  key  of  the  fortress, 
while  in  a  background  of  the  clouds  of  war  are 
seen  the  cannon  pointing  downward  as  he  had  fired 
them  from  the  famous  Rock.  "  Old  Eliott's  "  mon- 
ument, a  rather  indifferent  bust,  stands  in  the  gar- 
dens of  the  Alameda,  and  along  with  it  is  that  of 
Wellington,  while  near  by  it  is  mounted  a  one  hun- 
dred ton  gun,  one  of  the  two  which  the  armament 
of  Gibraltar  now  includes.  Down  in  the  town  in  the 
court  of  the  old  sixteenth  century  Franciscan  Con- 
vent, which  is  the  Governor's  residence,  is  a  curious 
statue  of  Eliott  carved  from  the  bowsprit  of  the  Span- 
ish ship  San  Juan  which  was  captured  at  Trafalgar. 
The  panels  of  some  of  the  doors  of  the  banquet  room 


112  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

within  the  Convent  are  made  of  cedar  wood  from  the 
wrecks  of  the  Spanish  battering  ships  engaged  in 
the  bombardment  of  the  Rock  fortress  in  1782.  In 
the  Convent  garden  is  a  dragon-tree  believed  to  be  a 
thousand  years  old. 

THE   FORTRESS    TO-DAY. 

Gibraltar  is  a  complete  fortress-town.  The  sun- 
rise gun  begins  the  day,  and  the  sunset  gun  ends  it, 
while  the  evening  gun  at  half-past  nine  orders  the 
soldiers  into  their  barracks.  The  ceremony  of  lock- 
ing the  gates  at  sundown  goes  on  now  as  it  has  for 
centuries.  The  "  Keeper  of  the  Keys,"  clad  in  the 
uniform  of  the  troops,  marches  through  the  streets 
in  the  centre  of  a  military  guard,  led  by  a  regimental 
band.  The  keys  of  enormous  size  are  borne  before 
him.  Arriving  at  the  gates,  the  band  plays,  the 
guard  salutes,  the  huge  doors  are  slowly  closed  and 
locked,  and  then  the  procession  marches  back  to  the 
Convent  and  deposits  the  keys  in  the  Governor's  keep- 
ing. As  the  only  approach  for  an  enemy  is  from  the 
north  or  west,  these  are  the  sides  that  have  the  chief 
fortifications.  The  main  work  is  the  Line  Wall, 
a  ponderous  mass  of  masonry  over  two  miles  long, 
with  bastions  projecting  where  the  guns  turn  in 
either  direction  to  sweep  the  approaches  to  the  face 
of  the  wall.  The  Moles  stretch  out  in  the  bay, 
with  additional  lines  of  cannon  defending  the 


THE  FORTRESS  TO-DAY  113 

harbor  and  its  entrance.  Other  lines  of  batteries 
are  carried  around  the  western  face  southward  to 
Europa  Point.  The  casemates  and  barracks  for 
the  artillery  are  within  the  Line  Wall,  the  thick 
walls  and  arched  roofs  of  the  casemates  being 
designed  to  resist  the  heaviest  shot  and  shells. 
Most  of  the  guns  are  in  the  casemates  not  far  above 
the  water-level,  but  some  are  on  the  parapet.  Other 
batteries  are  in  the  rear  of  the  town,  in  the  galleries 
hewn  out  of  the  rock,  which  fire  over  the  housetops, 
and  as  one  mounts  the  Rock  it  bristles  with  guns, 
seen  in  every  direction,  while  the  crest  is  similarly 
defended  by  some  of  the  most  powerful  cannon  of 
latest  type.  The  batteries  of  Europa  Point  are 
also  thoroughly  equipped.  The  biggest  guns  —  the 
two  100  ton  Armstrongs  —  are  nearly  thirty-three 
feet  long,  and  with  a  charge  of  four  hundred  and 
fifty  pounds  of  gunpowder  fire  a  projectile  of 
eighteen  inches  diameter  weighing  two  thousand 
pounds  about  eight  miles.  The  boom  and  crash, 
when  such  a  gun  is  fired,  are  something  terrific. 
But  these  big  guns  are  not  now  regarded  as  the  most 
powerful.  The  later  gunnery  improvements  are 
said  to  demonstrate  that  twelve  inches  is  the  maxi- 
mum diameter  of  rifled  bore  for  effective  work,  and 
eight  inches  bore  produces  the  best  results  in  a 
rapid  fire  breech-loader  with  a  projectile  weighing 

two  hundred  and  fifty  pounds  that  can  be  fired  six 
VOL.  1—8 


114  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

times  a  minute.  The  object  now  is  to  combine  quick 
firing  with  the  highest  initial  velocity  and  the  great- 
est penetrating  power  against  attacking  ships. 

The  special  feature  of  Gibraltar  is  the  rock  gal- 
leries, which  were  mostly  constructed  during  the 
Great  Siege.  The  besiegers  then  with  their  cannon 
balls  reached  all  parts  of  the  Rock,  their  shells  flying 
in  every  direction  and  being  thrown  so  successfully 
that  the  English  gun  on  the  highest  pinnacle  was 
twice  dismounted.  To  secure  safety  and  a  better 
defence  these  rock  galleries  were  hewn  out.  They 
are  excavated  along  the  northern  face,  about  six 
hundred  feet  above  the  sea  level,  much  like  a  railway 
tunnel,  having  at  short  intervals  the  port  holes  for 
the  cannon,  and  expend  over  a  mile  in  two  tiers  one 
above  the  other.  At  the  end,  they  are  enlarged  into 
an  open  space  called  the  Hall  of  St.  George,  where 
Nelson  was  once  feasted  by  the  officers  of  the 
garrison,  this  function  being  a  great  memory  at  the 
post.  The  cannon  thrust  out  through  the  port  holes 
of  these  galleries,  all  point  northward  toward  Spain, 
and  they  were  the  principal  bulwark  of  defence  dur- 
ing the  Great  Siege  when  the  attack  from  that  direc- 
tion was  most  feared.  High  above  them,  on  the 
pinnacle  of  the  lion's  head,  is  mounted  the  "  Rock 
Gun  "  which  the  besiegers  were  then  able  to  dismount 
by  their  shells.  On  the  King's  birthday  this  gun 
gives  the  signal  for  the  lion's  roar  at  Gibraltar,  when 
from  all  parts  of  the  Rock  the  cannon  fire  the  an- 


THE  FORTRESS  TO-DAY  115 

nual  salute  to  the  sovereign.  Prominent  in  the 
western  defences  overlooking  the  bay  is  the  "  King's 
Bastion,"  where  "  Old  Eliott "  stood  on  the  day  of 
the  final  attack  upon  the  Rock  in  the  Great  Siege. 
Beyond  the  Southport  Gate  and  between  it  and  the 
Alameda  is  the  "  Ragged  Staff  Stairs/'  where  Ad- 
miral Rooke's  forces  landed  when  the  English  first 
took  the  town  and  the  Rock  in  1704. 

Since  the  great  modern  development  of  naval 
ships  and  guns  there  has  been  much  serious  dis- 
cussion as  to  the  value  of  Gibraltar  as  a  fortress.  It 
is  contended  in  France  that  a  hostile  fleet,  by 
hugging  the  Moroccan  coast  at  night,  can  easily  pass 
between  the  Mediterranean  and  the  Atlantic.  It  is 
also  contended  that  the  harbor  on  {he  west  side  of  the 
Rock  is  entirely  at  the  mercy  of  the  Spaniards  should 
they  be  hostile,  as  they  can  plant  batteries  on  the 
range  of  hills  on  the  western  side  of  the  bay,  be- 
ginning behind  Algeciras  and  stretching  northeast- 
ward around  the  bay  head  and  over  to  the  high  hill 
of  Carbonera,  known  as  the  "  Queen  of  Spain's 
Chair,"  which  is  not  far  away  from  the  Mediter- 
ranean to  the  northeastward.  Thus  the  harbor  and 
town  can  be  commanded  by  modern  guns  mounted  on 
Spanish  territory.  During  the  past  few  years 
England  has  been  greatly  strengthening  the  Gibral- 
tar defences  and  making  the  harbor  a  much  more 
elaborate  naval  and  coaling  station,  expending  upon 
these  improvements  an  amount  approximating 


116  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

$25,000,000,  while  at  the  same  time  her  diplomatic 
power  is  fully  enforced  to  prevent  the  construction 
of  any  offensive  works  in  Spanish  territory  or  across 
the  strait  of  Morocco.  The  English  authorities  are 
fully  alive  to  the  need  of  maintenance  of  the  great 
fortress  in  the  front  rank  it  has  so  long  occupied. 

HONDA  AND  MALAGA. 

Brisk  little  steamers  carry  the  visitors  westward 
from  Gibraltar  across  the  bay  to  the  white  houses 
of  Algeciras,  past  the  green  island  which  is  out- 
lying, and  giving  superb  views  backward  at  the 
stupendous  Rock.  A  railway  leads  northward  from 
Algeciras,  climbing  gradually  up  to  higher  levels  on 
the  hills,  which  is  the  main  route  of  the  modern 
traveller  from  Gibraltar  into  Spain.  It  runs  among 
the  Sierras  and  through  forests  of  cork  trees,  the 
chief  staple  of  this  region,  past  villages  and  over 
ravines,  and  at  numerous  turns  gives  constantly 
higher  but  more  distant  views  of  the  Rock  fortress 
down  by  the  sea.  One  of  these  villages  is  Gaucin, 
perched  2,000  feet  high  in  the  mountain,  the  little 
cluster  of  houses  with  the  prominent  jail  being  long 
visible  as  the  train  approaches,  and  described  as 
looking  "  like  a  grain  of  salt  sparkling  in  a  wrinkle 
of  the  monstrous  hill."  Although  Gibraltar  is  over 
thirty  miles  away,  it  is  distinctly  visible,  and  also 
the  opposite  African  coast  Entering  the  Sierra 
de  Ronda,  the  line  makes  its  crooked  route  through 


RONDA  AND  MALAGA  117 

the  long  narrow  pass  of  the  Angostura,  once  noted 
for  brigands,  thus  going  up  the  picturesque  ravine 
of  the  Guadiaro,  by  many  tunnels  and  bridges;  and 
after  sixty-seven  miles  of  circuitous  travelling,  ever 
mounting  higher,  it  reaches  the  ancient  and  romantic 
town  of  Honda  at  twenty-five  hundred  feet  elevation, 
once  a  Moorish  stronghold,  and  now  celebrated 
for  "  its  bridge,  its  bull  fights  and  its  fair." 
Nestling  amid  a  magnificent  amphitheatre  of 
mountains,  some  rising  in  peaks  more  than  a  mile 
high,  and  built  on  a  hill  rent  in  twain  by  the  Tajo 
river  chasm  which  is  nearly  four  hundred  feet  deep, 
this  place,  dating  from  the  Roman  time,  now  has 
an  Old  Town  built  by  the  Moors  on  the  southern 
part  of  the  hill,  and  a  New  Town  on  the  northern 
side,  which  the  Catholic  Kings  of  Spain  constructed 
when  they  captured  Ronda  in  1485  after  a  twenty 
days'  siege;  and  there  is  a  population  of  about 
twenty  thousand  in  both  settlements. 

This  is  a  singularly  picturesque  and  curious  place, 
most  of  it  apparently  hanging  on  the  edges  of  the 
Tajo  or  gorge,  cleft  down  in  the  hill  by  volcanic 
action,  and  having  the  river  torrent  rushing  through 
it  far  below,  while  at  the  narrowest  part,  where  the 
width  is  only  about  two  hundred  and  thirty  feet,  the 
bold  single  span  stone  bridge,  the  Puente  Nuevo,  is 
thrown  across  it,  giving  splendid  views  of  the  chasm 
and  the  torrent.  An  underground  staircase,  the 
Mina,  descends  to  the  bottom  of  the  gorge,  its 


118  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

steps  having  been  hewn  out  of  the  solid  rock  in 
1342  by  Christian  slaves,  the  Moors  having  thus 
constructed  it  when  attacks  were  frequent,  to  avoid 
a  water  famine  in  case  of  siege.  Two  ancient 
Moorish  bridges  also  span  the  gorge..  The  hanging 
gardens  of  the  Alameda  on  the  verge  of  the  ravine  are 
among  the  attractions,  and  also  the  spacious  stone 
bull-ring  in  the  Plaza  de  Toros  where  it  is  said  some 
of  the  best  bull  fights  of  Spain  are  exhibited  at  the 
May  fair,  the  ring  being  large  enough  to  accommo- 
date an  audience  of  ten  thousand.  The  natives,  be- 
cause of  their  isolation,  have  retained  in  their 
original  purity  the  ancient  Andalusian  habits  and. 
attractive  costumes,  and  they  include  some  of  the 
best  horse  tamers  in  southern  Spain,  which  accounts 
for  their  skill  in  bull-fighting.  The  mountain 
elevation  of  Eonda  gives  it  an  admirable  climate,  and 
this  with  its  varied  attractions  have  made  it  a 
popular  summer  resort.  It  was  in  the  neighborhood 
of  Ronda,  B.  C.  45,  in  the  Roman  wars,  that  Caesar 
defeated  the  sons  of  Pompey  on  the  field  of  Munda, 
a  settlement  which  long  ago  disappeared. 

About  forty  miles  northeast  of  Konda,  this  rail- 
way route  to  Granada  intersects  the  road  coming 
southward  from  Cordova  to  Malaga,  at  Bobadilla, 
which  has  thus  become  an  important  Spanish  rail- 
way junction.  The  route  to  Malaga  goes  over  to 
the  Mediterranean  coast,  which  is  forty  miles  dis- 
tant, following  the  valley  of  the  Guadalhorce  all  the 


Malaga. 


HONDA  AND  MALAGA  119 

way  down  to  the  sea.  It  gets  out  of  the  mountains 
through  the  gorge  of  the  Hoyo,  or  "  hole,"  cut 
deeply  into  the  slaty  strata  of  the  coast  range,  a  wild 
ravine  traversed  by  the  aid  of  many  tunnels  and 
bridges,  and  emerging  amid  the  palms  and  orange 
groves  of  the  sub-tropical  region  in  the  widened 
valley  nearer  the  sea  coast.  The  Guadalhorce  is 
left,  the  railroad  crosses  the  fertile  Vega,  and  soon 
Malaga  is  reached,  spread  around  its  beautiful  harbor 
and  upon  the  hill  spurs  projecting  from  the  various 
Sierras  to  the  northward.  In  the  centre  rises, 
at  an  elevation  of  nearly  six  hundred  feet,  the 
Gibralfaro  of  Malaga,  the  most  prominent  object 
of  this  noted  city  of  one  hundred  and  thirty  thou- 
sand people.  '  The  Phoenicians  first  settled  the  place 
as  a  station  where  they  cured  their  fish,  and  named  it 
Malaca,  from  the  word  malac  meaning  "  to  salt." 
Vespasian  made  it  a  Roman  city,  the  Visigoths  took 
it,  and  then  the  Moors  got  possession  when  they 
overran  Spain  in  711.  It  ultimately  became  one  of 
the  chief  seaports  of  their  kingdom  of  Granada, 
thus  continuing  until  captured  by  Ferdinand  and 
Isabella  in  1487,  after  which  it  lost  much  of  its 
importance.  Malaga  is  now  a  leading  Spanish  port 
on  the  Mediterranean,  although  the  harbor  is  shallow 
from  silting,  so  that  deep  draft  vessels  have  to  lie 
in  the  outer  roadstead.  It  is  in  magnificent  posi- 
tion, the  beautiful  bay  a  reproduction  in  miniature 
of  the  bay  of  Naples,  and  in  the  background  a  dis- 


120  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

tant  amphitheatre  of  mountains  environs  the  land 
and  fertile  Vega,  formed  by  the  extensive  delta 
of  the  Guadalhorce.  This  plain  spreads  to  the 
westward,  the  city  being  built  upon  the  banks  of  a 
smaller  mountain  stream  at  the  eastern  verge  of  the 
plain,  the  Guadalmedina,  meaning  "  the  river  of  the 
town,"  which  is  crossed  by  several  bridges  and  has 
the  inner  harbor  to  the  eastward  of  its  mouth. 
Malaga  has  a  delicious  climate,  a  splendid  outlook 
over  the  blue  sea,  and  is  becoming  a  popular  winter 
resort. 

The  great  hill  of  the  jebel  pharos,  the  "  hill 
lighthouse,"  its  Moorish  name  being  since  developed 
into  the  Gibralfaro,  dominates  the  view  from  all 
parts  of  the  city.  Upon  it  is  the  castle,  the  ex- 
tensive buildings  covering  the  summit,  and  enclosed 
by  a  ponderous  wall.  This  was  the  Moorish  strong- 
hold, constructed  in  the  thirteenth  century,  and  from 
it  the  extensive  view  seaward  is  far  across  to  the 
hills  of  Africa  at  Ceuta,  the  Hill  of  the  Apes,  Abyla, 
being  distinctly  traceable  in  fair  weather  at  the 
distant  horizon.  A  spur  of  the  Gibralfaro  to  the 
southwestward,  the  Alcazaba,  is  said  to  have  origi- 
nally been  the  site  of  the  Phoenician  defensive  work, 
and  the  Moors  converted  it  into  a  palace-fortress, 
of  which  portions  yet  remain.  It  was  this  hill  that 
was  stormed  when  the  Spaniards  captured  Malaga 
from  the  Moors  in  August,  1487,  and  there  is  yet 
preserved  the  Torre  de  Vela,  on  which  Pedro  of 


GOING  TO  GRANADA  121 

Toledo  then  planted  the  Christian  standard  when 
they  drove  out  the  infidels.  The  place  now  is  a  maze 
of  small  tenements  and  ruins  occupied  by  gypsies  and 
a  poorer  class  of  population.  Down  on  the  lower 
ground  at  the  southwestern  base  of  the  hill  was 
the  great  Moorish  mosque,  which  the  captors  then 
converted  into  a  Christian  church.  This  edifice  was 
superseded  afterward  by  the  Malaga  Cathedral, 
which  was  built  in  bits  during  four  centuries,  a 
da'zzling  white  limestone  structure  nearly  four  hun- 
dred feet  long  and  two  hundred  and  fifty  feet  high, 
one  of  its  towers  being  elevated  two  hundred  and 
eighty  feet,  and  the  other  incomplete.  The  interior 
is  imposing,  the  massive  nave  rising  one  hundred 
and  thirty  feet,  and  the  pavement  is  flagged  with 
white  and  red  marbles.  Malaga  does  not  have  many 
attractive  buildings,  but  it  is  a  thorough  Andalusian 
city,  its  people  enjoying  their  splendid  outlook  and 
fine  climate,  while  the  ample  exports  of  the  fertile 
surrounding  district  give  it  a  good  trade. 

GOING  TO   GRANADA. 

From  Bobadilla  it  is  seventy-seven  miles  eastward 
to  Granada,  the  railway  at  first  following  up  the 
valley  of  the  Guadalhorce,  then  crossing  a  dreary 
plateau  making  the  watershed  between  this  stream 
and  the  Jenil,  and  afterward  following  that  vigorous 
torrent  up  to  the  Sierra  Nevada.  The  route  dis- 
plays prolific  remains  of  the  Moorish  rule,  and  all 


122  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

the  towns  still  exhibit  ruins  of  their  strongholds  and 
castles  captured  in  the  gradual  encroachment  of  the 
Spanish  Catholic  sovereigns  upon  the  Moorish 
domain.  At  Antequera,  ten  miles  from  Bobadilla, 
the  Arch  of  Hercules  was  erected  in  1595,  and 
adorned  with  Roman  inscriptions  brought  from 
several  of  their  ancient  settlements  in  the  neighbor- 
hood, this  being  done  in  honor  of  the  Spanish  king, 
Philip  II.  Its  Church  of  San  Sebastian  is  sur- 
mounted by  a  colossal  bronze  armor-clad  angel,  wear- 
ing around  the  neck  a  reliquary  with  relics  of  St. 
Euphemia,  the  patron  saint  of  Antequera.  In  the 
suburbs  is  the  famous  "  Rock  of  the  Lovers,"  its 
romantic  legend  being  told  in  Southey's  Laila  and 
Manuel.  The  Moorish  maiden  and  the  Spanish 
knight,  pursued  and  unable  to  escape,  jumped  from 
the  cliff,  locked  in  each  other's  arms.  Emerging 
from  a  tunnel  in  the  hills  the  railway  suddenly  over- 
looks the  fertile  and  pleasant  valley  of  the  Jenil,  and 
far  off  to  the  eastward  are  seen  the  snowy  Sierra 
Nevada  peaks.  Here  is  Loja  by  the  riverside,  the 
Moorish  Losha,  which  with  Alhama,  twelve  miles 
southeast,  both  being  at  the  entrance  to  mountain 
passes,  were  the  two  "  Keys  of  Granada."  Loja  was 
captured  by  the  Christians  after  thirty  days'  siege 
in  1488  and  its  ancient  Moorish  castle  is  a  ruin. 
Alhama  stands  on  a  terrace  high  above  the  deep 
gorge  of  a  little  stream,  and  was  captured  in 
February,  1482.  Its  fall  was  bewailed  in  a  ballad 


GOING  TO  GRANADA  123 

of  the  time,  which  Byron  translated  in  his  poem, 
Woe  is  me,  Alhama.  ISTow  it  is  best  known  from  its 
warm  sulphur  baths.  The  railway  following  up  the 
Jenil  passes  Illora,  its  ruined  Moorish  castle  on  the 
mountain  side  having  been  the  "  Eye  of  Granada." 
A  few  miles  beyond  is  Pinos-Puente,  an  original 
Roman  settlement,  of  not  much  importance  now,  but 
noted  as  the  place  which  was  the  turning  point  of 
the  fortunes  of  Columbus. 

Having  failed  in  his  efforts  with  King  John  of 
Portugal,  Columbus  had  appealed  for  assistance  to 
Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  conducting  a  long  negotia- 
tion for  aid  in  fitting  out  his  expedition  to  dis- 
cover the  western  world.  They  had  then  captured 
Granada,  and  he  had  gone  to  the  camp  in  the  Spring 
of  ^492,  but  meeting  repeated  rebuffs,  had  left 
in  despair  and  was  returning  on  the  road  down  the 
Jenil,  with  the  half-formed  idea  of  going  to  France 
in  the  forlorn  hope  of  interesting  that  country's  king 
in  his  project.  Queen  Isabella,  however,  changed 
her  mind,  and  sent  messengers  to  bring  him  back, 
and  they  overtook  him  at  Pinos-Puente.  He  was 
taken  four  miles  up  the  river  to  the  camp  at  Santa 
Fe,  where  he  met  the  Queen,  and  on  April  17,  1492, 
the  famous  contract  was  made  with  him  upon  which 
his  voyage  of  discovery  was  founded.  This  region 
is  the  celebrated  Vega  of  Granada,  the  beautiful 
and  fertile  broadening  of  the  Jenil  valley  in  the 
midst  of  the  mountains,  and  Queen  Isabella  during 


124  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

the  siege  of  Granada  had  constructed  here  the 
Spanish  camp  in  eighty  days.  Its  form  was  that 
of  a  regular  Roman  encampment,  its  streets 
crossing  at  right  angles,  and  here  was  signed  the 
capitulation  of  Granada.  The  original  document  is 
still  preserved  in  the  Spanish  archives  at  the  castle 
of  Simancos  near  Valladolid.  Santa  Fe  is  now  a 
small  and  deserted  village,  yet  near  it  was  one  of  the 
earliest  known  settlements  in  Spain,  long  ago  dis- 
appeared, the  Illiberis  of  the  ancients,  which  the 
Romans  found  on  their  arrival,  and  which  the  Moors 
destroyed.  The  chief  present  curiosity  in  Santa  Fe 
is  the  trophy  above  the  church  door,  showing  a  lance 
with  a  sheet  of  parchment,  bearing  the  words 
Ave  Maria.  During  the  siege  of  Granada,  a  bold 
knight,  Hernan  Perez  del  Pulgar,  managed  on  the 
evening  of  December  18,  1490,  to  enter  that  city 
through  a  conduit  up  the  Darro,  and  going  to  the 
principal  mosque,  pinned  to  the  door  with  his  dagger 
a  scroll  inscribed  Ave  Maria,  afterward  regaining 
the  camp  at  Santa  Fe  unharmed.  The  Moors  were 
highly  indignant  at  this  insult,  and  sent  their 
champion  Zegri  Tarfe  with  the  scroll  back  to  the 
Christian  headquarters,  where  he  defied  them  to 
single  combat.  Don  Garcilaso  de  la  Vega  promptly 
accepted  the  challenge  and  slew  the  Moor,  whereat 
there  was  great  rejoicing  and  the  trophy  was  placed 
on  the  church  as  a  memorial.  A  few  miles  beyond, 


- 


The  Alhambra  and  the  Valley  of  the  Darro. 


THE  ALHAMBRA  PALACE  125 

the  railway  enters  the  station  at  the  northwestern 
outskirts  of  Granada. 

THE  ALHAMBKA  PALACE. 

The  river  Jenil  comes  from  the  southeast,  a 
mountain  torrent  copiously  fed  by  the  melting  snows 
of  the  Sierra  Nevada,  the  noble  peaks  of  this  giant 
range  rising  grandly  along  the  southeastern  horizon. 
This  stream,  as  already  stated,  was  the  Moorish 
Slienil,  its  name  derived  from  the  earlier  title  of 
Singilis  given  by  the  Romans.  It  goes  off  to  the 
westward  down  the  valley  of  the  beautiful  Vega  of 
Granada,  through  which  we  have  gradually  ascended 
to  an  elevation  of  twenty-two  hundred  feet  above  the 
sea.  The  famous  city  of  Granada  stretches  over  the 
plain  southward  from  the  railway  station  down  to 
the  banks  of  the  Jenil,  and  also  spreads  upward  upon 
the  high  hills  to  the  eastward,  culminating  in  two 
noble  eminences  abruptly  rising  five  hundred  feet, 
and  having  higher  elevations  beyond.  Between  these 
two  hills  is  a  deep  ravine,  through  which  flows  the 
Moorish  HadazzOj  now  called  the  Darro,  curving 
around  from  west  to  south  as  it  passes  through  a 
vaulted  channel  under  various  streets  in  the  heart  of 
the  city  to  reach  the  Jenil ;  but  being  without  much 
current,  as  most  of  its  waters  are  drained  for  irriga- 
tion of  the  regions  passed  in  its  upper  course.  This 
stream  used  to  bring  down  gold  in  its  sands,  before 


126  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

the  waters  were  diverted,  and  its  valley  made 
Granada,  the  "  city  of  the  pomegranates/'  the  city 
arms  still  bearing  the  stalked  pomegranate  supported 
by  the  Pillars  of  Hercules.  Granada  has  a  pictur- 
esque situation  at  the  base  of  the  two  mountain 
spurs,  with  the  splendid  Sierra  Nevada  for  its 
southeastern  outlook,  but  the  city  is  only  the  ghost 
of  its  former  self,  now  still  and  even  mournfulx  liv- 
ing on  the  memories  of  the  great  past,  for  it  has 
barely  seventy-five  thousand  people  where  it  had  over 
a  half-million,  when  the  Moors,  driven  from  Cor- 
dova, Seville  and  the  many  settlements  on  the 
Guadalquivir,  came  to  this  mountain  fortress  as  a 
last  refuge  and  maintained  themselves  for  over  two 
centuries.  It  was  then  they  built  the  greatest  palace 
and  ruin  that  Spain  has  to  show.  . 

The  northern  of  the  two  projecting  hills  to  the 
eastward  of  the  city,  is  the  long  ridge  of  the 
Albaicin,  the  name  being  derived  from  an  Arab 
phrase  meaning  the  "  quarter  of  the  falconers." 
Here  lived  the  Moorish  nobles  in  the  former  days, 
and  it  is  the  oldest  part  of  the  city,  the  Roman 
Garnata,  though  now  occupied  mostly  by  gypsies  and 
the  poorer  classes.  To  the  southward  the  hill  falls 
off  in  the  deep  ravine  of  the  Darro,  and  south  of  this 
steeply  rises  the  other  hill  of  the  Alhambra  —  the 
Moorish  Medinet-al-hamra,  or  the  "  Red  Town," — 
so  called  from  the  reddish-colored  stone  used  in  the 
outer  walls.  The  Romans  had  a  small  village  on 


THE  ALHAMBRA  PALACE  127 

this  hill,  and  the  Moors  when  they  first  came  to 
Spain  in  the  early  eighth  century,  built  their  Kasdba 
al-kadlma,  or  "  old  citadel,"  on  Albaicin,  but  after- 
ward reinforced  it  by  constructing  the  Kasdba  al- 
djedida,,  or  "  new  citadel,"  on  this  hill.  These 
eminences  were  the  site  of  the  original  town,  but 
after  the  decline  of  the  Caliphate  of  Cordova  began 
in  the  eleventh  century,  through  gradual  Christian 
conquest,  the  refugee  Moors  flocked  into  this  moun- 
tain fortress,  being  encouraged  to  come  by  the 
Zirites  dynasty  then  in  power,  and  the  rapidly  ex- 
panding settlement,  in  the  subsequent  period  spread 
down  the  hill  slopes  and  over  the  lower  plain,  thus 
making  the  latter  district  the  chief  part  of  the 
greatly  enlarged  city,  and  it  ultimately  became  the 
most  important  section.  Thus  were  formed  various 
new  districts,  among  them  Antequeruela  or  "  little 
Antequera,"  originally  peopled  by  refugees  from 
that  city,  and  now  the  part  of  Granada  which  covers 
the  banks  and  stream  bed  of  the  Darro.  From 
1031  until  1492  Granada  was  the  great  Moorish 
kingdom  of  Spain,  its  power  expanding  under 
various  dynasties,  chiefly  the  Nasrides,  begun  by 
Mohammed  I,  who  was  the  sovereign  when  St. 
Ferdinand  captured  Cordova  in  1236  and  Jaen  in 
1246.  For  over  two  centuries  afterward,  though 
often  rent  by  internal  factions,  this  Moorish  king- 
dom was  maintained,  until  Ferdinand  and  Isabella 
got  possession  of  Granada,  January  2,  1492,  an 


128  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

event  still  celebrated  on  the  anniversary,  by  a  pro- 
cession to  the  cathedral  in  the  morning,  and  the 
ascent  of  the  Torre  de  la  Vela  of  the  Alcazaba,  the 
western  termination  of  the  Alhambra,  by  a  deputa- 
tion of  the  young  girls  of  the  city,  who  in  con- 
tinuance of  an  ancient  custom,  sound  the  bell  for 
an  hour  in  the  afternoon  "  in  order  to  secure  a 
husband."  It  was  upon  this  high  Moorish  Ghafar 
or  "  watch-tower  "  on  the  afternoon  of  the  Christian 
occupation  that  Ferdinand  displayed  his  "  banners 
of  the  Catholic  kings  "  in  token  of  possession.  It 
was  in  Mohammed  I's  reign  that  the  Alhambra  was 
begun.  His  predecessors  had  their  royal  seat  on  the 
Albaicin  hill,  with  fortifications  on  the  Alhambra 
Hill.  Mohammed  I,  who  reigned  forty  years,  and 
was  the  originator  of  the  Moorish  motto  so  ex- 
tensively displayed  in  the  buildings,  which  trans- 
lated means,  "  There  is  no  conqueror  but  the  Most 
High  God,"  selected  the  Alcazaba  for  his  residence. 
On  this  bold  western  outlook  over  the  Vega  valley, 
the  Alhambra  construction  modestly  began.  His 
successors  continued  it,  spreading  the  structure  all 
over  the  hill,  the  finest  portions  being  built  in  the 
fourteenth  century  by  Yusuf  I  and  Mohammed  V. 

When  the  surrender  was  made  to  Ferdinand  and 
Isabella,  they  restored  and  preserved  the  Alhambra, 
but  afterward  Granada  dwindled  in  importance, 
the  population  diminished,  and  many  changes  came 
in  the  Alhambra  that  destroyed  much  of  its  beauty. 


THE  ALHAMBRA  PALACE  120 

The  greatest  potentate  of  Europe  in  the  first  half  of 
the  sixteenth  century  was  the  Emperor  Charles  V, 
who  succeeded  his  grandfather  Ferdinand  as  king  of 
Spain  in  1516.  The  process  of  expelling  the  Moors 
from  Castile  and  Granada  had  been  going  on 
vigorously.  Ten  years  after  his  accession,  Charles 
came  to  Granada,  and  had  many  parts  of  the 
Alhambra  pulled  down  to  make  room  for  a  new 
palace  within  the  walls.  Somewhat  later  a  powder 
explosion  did  great  injury,  only  partially  repaired. 
In  the  eighteenth  century  the  revenues  usually 
assigned  for  the  maintenance  of  the  buildings  were 
taken  away  by  Philip  V,  and  for  nearly  two  hun- 
dred years  the  palace  was  almost  totally  neglected 
and  fell  into  decay.  The  French  held  it  in 
Napoleon's  time  but  upon  evacuating  in  1812  blew 
up  several  towers  of  the  fortress.  In  the  later 
nineteenth  century  the  Spanish  government  made 
extensive  restorations,  and  while  the  Alhambra  is  not 
now  the  splendid  Moorish  palace  it  was  in  the 
fifteenth  century,  it  is  still  the  greatest  structure  in 
magnificent  attractiveness  that  Spain  can  show,  hav- 
ing been  well  described  as  the  "  gem  of  the  delicate 
fancy  of  the  Moor;  the  realized  vision  of  the  Ara- 
bian Nights."  Much  of  the  romance  surrounding 
it  has  been  the  result  of  Washington  Irving's  visit  to 
Spain  and  long  sojourn  at  Granada,  in  his  interest- 
ing work  The  Alhambra  published  in  1832. 

The   hill   of  the   Alhambra   is   divided   into   two 
VOL.  1—9 


130  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

parallel  ridges  by  a  gorge  which  the  Moors  called 
Assabica,  where  are  now  the  gardens  and  groves  of 
the  Alameda  of  the  Alhambra.  To  the  southward  of 
this  gorge,  which  stretches  from  the  west  toward  the 
higher  ranges  eastward,  the  hill  is  called  Monte 
Mauror,  the  "  district  of  the  water  carriers,"  and  is 
surmounted  by  the  Torres  Bermejas,  erected  by  the 
Moors  on  its  western  verge  —  the  "  Vermilion 
Towers," —  now  a  military  prison,  the  view  over  the 
city  and  Vega  with  the  grand  environment  of  moun- 
tains, being  most  charming.  In  the  Alameda  the 
trees  are  mostly  elms,  brought  from  England  and 
planted  there  by  the  Duke  of  Wellington  after  the 
English  occupation  in  1812,  and  watered  by  an  irri- 
gation stream  from  the  river  Darro,  coming  from  its 
upper  course.  The  running  waters  are  murmuring 
all  the  time,  the  noble  trees  with  their  thick  mass  of 
foliage  are  the  nesting  places  of  thousands  of  sing- 
ing birds,  and  the  lovely  vale  is  a  place  of  most  at- 
tractive retirement,  a  sacred  grove  reproducing  the 
restful  sylvan  beauty  it  had  when  it  was  the  Mak- 
bara  or  cemetery  of  the  Moorish  kings,  until  Boabdil, 
the  last  of  the  race,  took  their  remains  away. 

North  of  the  Alameda  gorge  rises  the  higher  and 
bolder  hill  of  the  Monte  de  la  Assabica,  on  which  is 
the  Alhambra.  Its  western  front  overlooking  the 
city  at  an  elevation  of  nearly  five  hundred  feet  dis- 
plays the  Alcazaba  or  citadel,  the  hill  faces  all 


THE  ALHAMBRA  PALACE  131 

around,  excepting  on  the  eastern  side,  rising  pre- 
cipitously, which  gave  additional  strength  to  this 
Moorish  fortress.  There  are  only  scant  remains  of 
the  original  buildings,  and  the  enclosing  walls  and 
towers  are  rather  dilapidated.  The  interior  of  the 
ancient  structure  is  now  a  garden.  Originally  a 
wall  crossed  the  gorge  from  the  Alcazdba  to  the 
Torres  Bermejas,  thus  guarding  the  entrance  to  the 
Alameda,  and  here  stood  the  gate  to  the  Alhambra, 
the  Moorish  Bib  Alaujar,  both  wall  and  gate  being 
now  for  the  most  part  removed,  and  on  the  site  of 
the  gate  is  the  triumphal  arch  of  the  Puerto,  de  los 
Granadas,  erected  to  glorify  Charles  V,  and  having 
carved  at  the  top  three  open  pomegranates,  repre- 
sentative of  the  city.  Eastward  of  the  Alcazaba, 
the  hill  summit  is  a  plateau  about  a  half  mile  long 
and  six  hundred  feet  wide,  on  which  the  Alhambra 
buildings  are  constructed.  Farther  east  this  plateau 
is  cut  off  by  a  ravine,  separating  it  from  the  higher 
Cerro  del  Sol,  towering  above  the  plateau,  and  upon 
the  Cerro  is  the  Generalife  Palace,  at  an  elevation  of 
nearly  two  hundred  feet  more,  this  having  been  the 
summer  residence  of  the  Moorish  kings.  Its  cypress 
groves  and  garden  extend  farther  up  the  hill  slope, 
where  a  Mirador  tower  has  been  recently  built  for 
the  outlook.  Behind  this  and  yet  higher,  is  the 
summit  of  the  eminence,  the  Sella  del  Moro,  where 
there  was  a  mosque  in  the  Moorish  days,  and  from  it 


132  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

is  a  grand  view  over  the  Alhambra  and  the  deep 
gorge  of  the  Darro  to  the  right;  with  the  city  and, 
spreading  far  away  westward,  the  Vega. 

Ascending  the  hill  slope  from  the  Alameda,  the 
Alhambra  enclosure  is  entered  by  the  imposing 
tower  gateway,  the  Puerta  Judiciaria  built  by  Yusef 
I  in  1348,  the  Moorish  Bib  Kliarea  or  "  Gate  of  the 
Law,"  This  is  a  tower  building  nearly  seventy  feet 
high  and  fifty  feet  wide,  having  an  outer  and  inner 
gate  connected  by  a  passage  which  was  made 
tortuous  for  a  better  defence.  The  horseshoe-topped 
outer  gate  rises  about  half  way  up  the  front,  and  has 
carved  above  it  a  hand  with  outstretched  fingers,  the 
Moorish  symbol  used  to  avert  the  "  evil  eye." 
Above  the  inner  arched  gate  is  similarly  carved  a 
key,  the  symbol  of  power,  and  the  superstitious  be- 
lief was  that  Granada  would  defy  all  foes  until  the 
outer  hand  had  seized  this  inner  key.  After  the 
conquest,  a  wooden  figure  of  the  Virgin  was  placed 
on  the  inner  gate.  The  massive  wooden  doors  are 
shod  with  iron.  Within  the  gate  and  at  the  top  of 
the  hill,  is  the  spacious  Plaza  de  los  Al jibes,  the 
"  Place  of  the  Cistern,"  this  extensive  water  storage 
receptacle  one  hundred  feet  long  being  filled  with 
filtered  waters  from  the  Darro.  Beautiful  hedges  of 
myrtle  adorn  the  Plaza,  and  on  its  eastern  side  are 
the  Moorish  Alhambra,  now  called  the  Casa  Real, 
and  the  more  modern  palace  of  Charles  V,  which 
adjoins  the  former  on  the  southwest;  while  on  the 


THE  ALHAMBRA  PALACE  133 

western  side  of  the  Plaza  is  the  imposing  f  agade  of 
the  Alcazaba  with  its  towers.  To  the  northward 
the  Plaza  is  bounded  by  the  deeply  cut  ravine  of 
the  Darro.  The  walls  of  the  Alcazaba,  which  are 
among  the  few  relics  left  of  the  original  structure, 
have  in  parts  Roman  work.  The  ancient  citadel 
stands  high  on  the  top  of  the  western  extremity  of 
the  bold  hill,  and  its  famous  Ghafar,  already  re- 
ferred to,  is  the  outpost  watch-tower  overlooking 
Granada  and  on  the  very  verge  of  the  cliff.  The 
pinnacle  of  this,  the  Torre  de  la  Vela,  is  a  turret 
containing  a  huge  bell  of  twelve  tons  weight.  This 
bell  is  rung  at  night  to  regulate  the  opening  and 
shutting  of  the  irrigation  channels  conveying  the 
Darro  water  through  the  Vega.  The  tower  presents 
a  splendid  view  of  the  ancient  city  spreading  far  be- 
low, of  the  Torres  Bermejas  rising  beyond  the 
Alameda  gorge  on  the  one  side,  and  the  Albaicin 
hill  beyond  the  Darro  ravine  on  the  other;  while 
far  away  westward  is  the  green  and  fertile  Vega 
enclosed  by  brown  hills  making  an  almost  circular 
background.  All  around,  in  the  distance,  are  the 
higher  Sierras,  with  the  conspicuous  snow-clad  peaks 
of  the  elevated  Sierra  ISTevada  toward  the  southeast. 
Eastward  is  the  Alhambra,  in  the  foreground  across 
the  Plaza,  backed  by  the  higher  Generalife  and  the 
towering  summit  of  the  Cerro  del  Sol.  Such  is  the 
introduction  to  the  Alhambra. 

The  Moorish   builder's   and   decorator's    art   was 


134  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

in  its  earlier  development  when  the  Cordova  mosque 
and  the  Seville  Giralda  were  erected,  while  the  Al- 
hambra  was  a  later  and  more  finished  construction, 
like  all  Moorish  buildings,  the  exterior  is  unpre- 
tentious, and  eclipsed  by  the  later  and  much  more 
imposing  palace  of  Charles  V  alongside.  The  Arab 
house  always  has  its  rooms  opening  upon  an  inside 
court,  and  such  was  the  system  of  constructing  the 
Alhambra,  as  successive  kings  of  Granada  enlarged 
it  by  building  new  courts  and  surrounding  rooms, 
so  that  it  is  really  a  series  of  palaces  each  with 
separate  court  and  entrance.  This  was,  however, 
altered  by  the  changes  after  the  conquest,  so  that  now 
the  entrances  are  in  some  respects  differently  ar- 
ranged. The  present  modern  entrance  is  low-lying 
and  alongside  Charles'  Palace,  the  Estrada  Moderna, 
at  the  termination  of  a  passageway,  andjeads  into 
the  Court  of  the  Myrtles,  which  is  the  central  court 
of  the  great  Palace  of  Comares  constructed  by  Yusuf 
I  and  his  successor  Mohammed  V,  in  the  fourteenth 
century.  Yusuf  also  built  the  red  enclosing  wall 
around  the  entire  hill,  with  twenty-three  towers. 
It  was  in  this  Palace  of  Comares  that  the  Moorish 
kings  sat  in  state,  receiving  embassies  and  holding 
councils.  The  Spanish  names  of  the  famous  court 
are  Patio  de  la  Alberca,  derived  from  the  extensive 
alberca,  or  water-pool,  in  its  centre,  for  which  the 
Arab  title  was  birtceh;  and  Patio  de  los  Arrayanes, 
or  Court  of  the  Myrtles,  named  from  the  myrtle 


THE  ALHAMBRA  PALACE  135 

hedges  or  arrayanes  surrounding  the  pool.  The 
court  is  one  hundred  and  twenty  feet  long  and 
seventy-five  feet  wide,  but  has  lost  much  of  its 
original  beauties  through  indifferent  restoration,  so 
that  the  first  view  is  rather  disappointing.  In  this 
connexion  it  is  interesting  to  recall  the  observations 
of  an  artistic  visitor,  who  has  traced  the  Moorish 
art  development  culminating  in  the  Alhambra. 

The  Moors  in  decoration  worked  largely  in  wood 
and  plaster,  and  their  object  seemed  to  be  the  re- 
production of  the  tent  of  the  nomad  Arab.  The 
fragile  and  thin  marble  columns,  on  which  rest 
large  and  apparently  heavy  masses  of  masonry, 
imitate  the  tent  poles;  the  brilliantly  colored  orna- 
mentation echoes  the  gay  patterned  carpets  with 
which  the  tent  interiors  were  draped;  while  the 
stalactite,  -honeycombed  vaulting  of  the  domes  seems 
due  in  its  regular  step-like  formation  to  a  sort  of 
mathematical  calculation.  The  Moorish  fancy  is  be- 
wildering in  the  blending  of  geometrical  figures  and 
foliage  and  other  forms  in  endless  convolutions,  but 
there  is  no  sculpture,  as  they  do  not  reproduce  living 
creatures.  Inscriptions,  mainly  in  the  old  Cufic 
characters,  are  liberally  used  for  borders,  usually 
religious  or  poetical,  and  the  latter  are  eulogistic  of 
the  Moorish  kings.  To  get  the  full  idea  of  the 
Alhambra,  the  visitor  needs  to  use  some  of  the  imag- 
inative powers,  in  reviving  the  coloring  of  the  plaster 
walls,  getting  the  waterless  fountains  to  play  again, 


136  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

picturing  the  empty  rooms  as  gaily  decorated  and 
illuminated,  while  the  lovely  natural  surroundings 
seen  through  the  open  windows  add  to  the  harmony. 
The  sides  of  the  Court  of  the  Myrtles  are  at  present 
plain,  but  beautiful  arcades  adorn  the  ends,  each 
borne  by  six  slender  marble  columns  and  paved  with 
marble  slabs.  The  southwestern  arcade  is  the  finest. 
The  northeastern  arcade  has  alcoves  on  either  side 
with  stalactite  vaulting  originally  colored  blue,  and 
the  motto  "  There  is  no  conqueror  but  the  Most  High 
God,"  originated  by  Mohammed  I,  and  also  another, 
describing  Mohammed  V  as  the  conqueror  of  Algeci- 
ras  in  Algiers  in  1368,  and  lavishly  praising  him  for 
building  this  palace.  Thus,  one  of  these  inscrip- 
tions is  translated  "  Thou  givest  safety  from  the 
breeze  to  the  blades  of  grass,  and  inspirest  terror  in 
the  very  stars  of  Heaven;  when  the  shining  stars 
quiver,  it  is  through  dread  of  thee,  and  when  the 
grass  of  the  field  bends  down,  it  is  to  give  thee 
thanks." 

This  palace  is  named  from  its  tower,  the  Torre  de 
Comares,  said  to  have  been  constructed  by  Moorish 
workmen  from  Comares  down  by  Malaga.  In  the 
northeastern  end  of  the  Court  of  the  Myrtles  there 
is  an  imposing  horseshoe  arch  over  the  gateway 
which  connects  with  the  entrance  hall  of  the  tower, 
this  being  an  elaborate  vestibule,  narrow,  but  stretch- 
ing about  seventy-five  feet  across  the  palace  —  the 
Sola  de  la  Barca, —  thus  called  because  the  vaulting 


THE  ALHAMBRA  PALACE  137 

of  the  ceiling,  some  time  ago  destroyed  by  fire,  origi- 
nally resembled  the  hull  of  a  boat.  Niches  of 
marble,  on  either  side  of  the  entrance,  were  made 
for  water  vessels,  and  similar  niches  across  the  vesti- 
bule adorn  the  arched  exit  beyond,  which  leads 
through  the  massive  wall  of  the  tower  to  its  chief 
apartment,  the  "  Hall  of  the  Ambassadors,"  occupy- 
ing the  whole  interior.  This  splendid  Hall  is  sixty 
feet  high  and  thirty-seven  feet  square,  and  was  the 
reception  hall  of  the  Moorish  kings,  the  throne  being 
opposite  the  entrance.  High  above  rises  the  noble 
tower,  elevated  almost  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet,  the 
battlemented  top  being  of  modern  construction. 
There  are  many  inscriptions  in  the  vestibule  and 
Hall,  Yusuf  I  being  indicated  as  the  builder.  Among 
them  are  verses  in  Arabic  testifying  the  goodness  and 
nobleness  of  Allah,  of  which  this  is  one :  "  He 
who  comes  to  me  tortured  by  thirst,  will  find  water, 
pure  and  fresh,  sweet  and  unmixed;  I  am  like  the 
rainbow  when  it  shines,  and  the  sun  is  my  lord." 
The  thick  walls  of  the  Hall  are  pierced  by  deeply 
recessed  windows,  giving  fine  views  over  the  city  and 
the  Darro  ravine,  while  high  above  is  a  domed  ceil- 
ing of  larchwood,  resembling  in  its  carvings  a  splen- 
didly cut  precious  stone.  The  ornamentation  has 
red  and  blue  as  the  predominant  colors,  and  is  among 
the  finest  in  the  palace,  there  being  many  varying 
patterns.  The  mournful  tale  is  told  of  the  last  as- 
semblage of  the  Moors,  summoned  to  meet  in  this 


138  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

Hall  by  the  unfortunate  Boabdil,  which  decided 
upon  the  surrender  of  Granada  to  Ferdinand  and 
Isabella. 

As  the  Torre  de  Comares  is  upon  the  northeastern 
side  of  the  Court  of  Myrtles,  on  its  southeastern  side 
is  the  noted  Court  of  the  Lions.  Its  vestibule  along- 
side the  former  court  is  the  Sola  de  los  Mocarabes, 
thirteen  feet  wide  and  sixty-five  feet  long,  with  deco- 
rations in  blue,  red  and  gold  and  a  modern  roof  of 
barrel  vaulting,  the  original  ceiling  having  been  de- 
stroyed by  a  powder  explosion  in  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury. The  Court  of  the  Lions  is  ninety-two  feet 
long  and  about  fifty  feet  broad,  surrounded  by  an 
arcade  of  one  hundred  and  twenty-four  columns, 
supporting  stilted  arches.  These  columns  are  single 
and  in  pairs  alternating,  with  groups  of  three  or  four 
at  the  corners,  while  at  each  end  there  project  grace- 
ful pavilions.  The  walls  are  of  wood  and  plaster 
and  the  ceiling  is  a  charming  wooden  construction 
in  the  "  half-orange  "  form.  The  decoration  of  fret- 
work is  exquisite,  looking  as  if  carved  in  ivory  and 
giving  a  most  elegant  impression.  The  ceiling  is 
modern,  and  the  floor  of  marble  slabs,  with  blue  and 
white  tile  paving  in  the  arcades.  At  the  centre  is 
a  large  fountain-basin,  borne  by  twelve  weather- 
beaten  lions  of  marble,  whence  comes  the  name  of 
the  Court.  Originally,  the  Court  of  the  Lions  was 
the  chief  feature  of  the  winter-palace  of  the  kings, 
and  its  construction  was  begun  by  Mohammed  V  in 


THE  ALHAMBRA  PALACE  139 

the  late  fourteenth  century.  The  central  fountain 
basin  is  about  ten  feet  in  circumference,  and  there 
are  also  smaller  fountains  at  the  ends  of  the  Court, 
the  overflow  of  all  coming  to  the  centre.  These 
fountains  play  on  the  great  festival  days. 

There  are  elaborate  and  attractive  apartments  all 
around  the  Court  of  the  Lions.  On  its  southwestern 
side  is  the  "  Hall  of  the  Abencerrages,"  named  from 
that  noble  family  which  became  very  powerful  in 
Granada  in  the  middle  of  the  fifteenth  century.  We 
are  told  that  King  Abu  Xasr  tried  to  curb  them,  by 
securing  the  murder  of  their  chief  Seid  Yusuf,  but 
the  result  was  that  in  1462  Abu  Nasr  lost  his  throne 
to  his  son  Muley  Abu  Hasan.  Then  Muley's  first 
wife  Aisha  became  jealous  of  her  husband's  atten- 
tions to  a  charming  Spanish  slave  Isabel  de  Solis, 
who  had  become  a  Moslem  under  the  captivating 
title  of  Zorayah,  or  the  "  Morning  Star,"  and  when 
the  king  made  her  his  favorite  wife,  Aisha  caused 
trouble.  Aisha  saw  that  the  right  of  succession  of 
her  son  Mohammed  Abu  Abdallah,  known  as  Boab- 
dil,  and  even  his  life  were  endangered,  and  the 
Abencerrages  sympathized  with  her.  There  was  an- 
other powerful  family,  the  Zegris,  who  took  up  the 
cause  of  the  king  Muley  and  his  charmer,  the 
"  Morning  Star."  Violent  dissensions  arose,  culmi- 
nating in  1482,  and  these  were  the  direct  cause  of 
the  downfall  of  the  Moorish  kingdom  of  Granada, 
for  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  whose  great  mission  was 


140  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

the  expulsion  of  the  Moors  from  Spain,  took  advan- 
tage of  the  quarrels,  and  in  a  few  years  became  suc- 
cessful. They  captured  Alhama  in  1482,  and 
Muley  afterward  went  down  the  Jenil  with  an  ex- 
pedition to  try  and  recover  it.  While  he  was  gone, 
the  tradition  is  that  Aisha  lowered  herself  and  her 
sons  Boabdil  and  Yusuf  from  a  window  in  the  Torre 
de  Gomares  and  fled  with  them  across  the  Darro 
ravine  to  the  Albaicin  hill,  and  then  northeastward 
up  through  the  mountain  passes  to  Guadix,  the 
Moorish  Wadi-Ash,  the  "  water  of  life."  Here 
Boabdil  was  at  once  proclaimed  king  of  Granada  — 
El  Rey  Chico  —  and  after  a  fierce  struggle  he  next 
year  dethroned  his  father  Muley,  who  retired  with 
the  "  Morning  Star "  to  Malaga.  Then  Boabdil 
took  the  field  against  Ferdinand,  but  venturing  too 
far  down  the  Jenil,  the  Spaniards  in  1483  defeated 
and  captured  him  at  Lucena.  Boabdil  thereupon 
made  a  treaty,  acknowledging  tribute  to  Ferdinand 
and  thus  held  the  Granada  throne.  In  1485  Muley 
died,  his  brother  Ez-Zagal  succeeding,  and  the  next 
year,  Boabdil  returning  to  his  Moorish  fealty  re- 
signed Granada  to  Ez-Zagal,  who  was  the  last  of  the 
heroic  leaders  of  the  Moors.  Again  Boabdil  battled 
with  the  Spaniards  at  the  remaining  stronghold 
down  the  Jenil,  Loja,  which  with  Alhama  were  the 
"  Keys  of  Granada."  Once  more  he  was  captured, 
and  submitting,  again  pledged  fealty  to  Ferdinand 
and  returned  to  Granada,  Ez-Zagal  having  gone  to 


THE  ALHAMBRA  PALACE  141 

the  relief  of  Malaga.  One  after  another  of  the 
Moorish  strongholds  fell,  Ez-Zagal  was  entirely  de- 
feated, and  then  Ferdinand  required  Boabdil  to 
give  up  Granada.  After  another  final  desperate 
effort  he  was  forced  to  abandon  the  place,  which  was 
agreed  upon  by  the  treaty  of  1491,  and  January  2, 
1492,  the  Spaniards  took  possession  of  the  Alham- 
bra.  In  Boabdil's  vacillating  and  unheroic  career, 
he  had  many  internal  dissensions  to  cope  with.  He 
is  said  to  have  discovered  a  tryst  of  his  Queen 
Morayma  with  Hamet,  the  chief  of  the  Abencerrages, 
and  this  led  to  a  horrible  tragedy.  He  brought  the 
principal  members  of  that  powerful  family  into 
this  superb  hall  by  inviting  them  to  a  banquet,  and 
had  them  beheaded  in  his  presence,  whence  came  its 
name.  Thus  he  got  the  enmity  of  the  whole  clan 
which  helped  precipitate  his  downfall. 

The  Hall  of  the  Abencerrages  is  a  magnificent 
apartment  though  comparatively  small.  Opposite 
the  grand  entrance,  which  has  beautiful  doors,  re- 
cently restored,  the  central  part  rises  in  three  stages, 
into  an  elaborate  fountain,  while  above  are  a  ceiling 
and  dome,  the  ceiling  being  star-shaped  and  adorned 
with  stalactites.  There  are  reddish-brown  stains  on 
the  marbles  of  the  fountain,  which  tradition  says 
were  made  by  the  blood  of  the  decapitated  Abencer- 
rages. The  overflow  waters  of  the  fountain  run 
off  through  the  entrance  to  the  Court  of  the  Lions. 
At  either  end  of  the  Hall  are  flat-roofed  alcoves, 


142  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

while  beyond  are  capacious  water  cisterns,  and  be- 
hind is  the  Rauda,  a  sepulchral  chapel,  where  were 
discovered  in  1574  the  alabaster  tombstones  of  three 
of  the  Moorish  kings.  Upon  the  southeastern  side 
of  the  Court  of  the  Lions  is  the  "  Hall  of  Justice," 
also  called  the  "  Hall  of  the  Kings,"  the  tradition 
being  that  here  they  dispensed  justice.  The  en- 
trance is  by  three  separate  archways,  each  divided 
by  two  columns.  The  ends  are  alcoves,  and  the  ceil- 
ing is  separated  into  sections,  roofed  by  stalactite 
arches.  These  arches  with  the  honeycombed  vault- 
ing make  it  look  like  a  curious  and  fantastic  grotto. 
There  are  some  early  fifteenth  century  paintings  on 
the  walls,  done  on  leather  by  Moorish  artists,  and 
the  central  one  represents  ten  bearded  Moslems  said 
to  be  portraits  of  the  kings  of  Granada  from  Mo- 
hammed I  to  Abu  the  Red  who  reigned  in  the  four- 
teenth century.  There  are  also  preserved  here  the 
alabaster  slabs  taken  from  the  kings'  tombs  in  the 
Rauda. 

The  "  Hall  of  the  Two  Sisters  "  is  an  upper  story 
on  the  northeastern  side  of  the  Court  of  the  Lions. 
It  opens  at  a  somewhat  higher  level  into  the  "  Hall 
of  the  Ajimeces  "  to  the  northeast,  and  farther  north- 
east is  the  Mirador  of  Daraxa,  which  looks  out  upon 
the  Court  of  Daraxa.  These  three  apartments  were 
the  residence  of  the  Sultana,  and  are  a  suite  of  great 
magnificence.  The  "  Hall  of  the  Two  Sisters  "  is 
named  from  two  large  slabs  of  white  marble  in  the 


THE  ALHAMBRA  PALACE  143 

pavement,  and  this  is  regarded  as  the  most  finely 
decorated  apartment  in  the  Alhambra.  It  has  elabo- 
rate wall  adornments  in  stucco  and  beautiful  doors, 
but  the  great  achievement  is  the  ceiling.  This  is 
composed  of  honeycombed  vaulting,  and  is  said  to 
be  the  largest  existing  Moorish  roof  of  this  character. 
There  are  five  thousand  cells,  all  differing,  yet.  all 
combining  in  a  plan  of  bewildering  yet  symmetrical 
beauty.  Niches  in  the  walls  are  flanked  by  grace- 
ful columns,  and  at  each  corner  fantastic  cell-foun- 
tains and  stalactite  pendants  hang  from  the  roof. 
Above  rises  the  impressive  dome,  with  its  innumer- 
able cells  of  tiny  construction  in  every  variety  of 
form,  as  if  a  swarm  of  bees  had  been  at  work,  one 
cell  breaking  into  another,  climbing  above  it,  and 
being  in  turn  used  as  a  base  for  a  third  to  rise  higher. 
These  cells  and  little  domes  soar  upward  in  the  most 
curious  way,  the  roof  doubling  back  upon  itself  and 
forming  large  vaults  in  its  fantastic  and  involved 
combinations  until  the  top  is  reached.  The  walls 
are  fanciful  and  picturesque,  dados  covering  the  lower 
parts  with  convolutions  in  red,  green  and  blue,  and 
having  above  on  a  ground  of  plaster  lace-work  bril- 
liant displays  of  embroidery.  In  this  Hall  stands 
the  famous  Alhambra  Vase,  with  two  handles,  and 
enameled  in  white,  gold  and  blue  in  exquisite  fash- 
ion, displaying  animals  supposed  to  be  gazelles.  It 
is  about  four  and  a  half  feet  high,  dating  from  the 
early  fourteenth  century,  the  tradition  being  that  at 


144  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

the  conquest  it  was  found  in  the  palace  filled  with 
gold.  The  Hall  of  the  Ajimeces  also  has  a  fine  ceil- 
ing, and  opens  into  the  Mirador  de  Daraxa,  which 
has  three  tall  windows  cut  down  almost  to  the  floor 
and  looking  out  upon  the  Court  of  the  Daraxa.  The 
name  of  Daraxa  means  the  "  Vestibule,"  and  it  was 
here  that  Irving  located  the  boudoir  of  his  romantic 
Moorish  beauty  Lindaraja.  In  the  Mirador  is  an 
inscription,  which  translated  reads :  "  In  these 
rooms  so  much  magnificence  presents  itself  to  the 
gazer  that  the  eye  is  taken  captive  and  the  mind 
confused.  Light  and  color  are  so  distributed  here, 
that  you  may  look  upon  them  at  the  same  time  as 
one  and  yet  as  different."  The  Court  of  the  Daraxa 
is  shaded  by  orange  trees,  and  has  a  fountain  brought 
here  by  Charles  V  from  the  older  part  of  the  Al- 
hambra,  the  "  Court  of  Mexuar."  Beyond  the 
Court  of  the  Daraxa  to  the  northeast  is  the  Torre  de 
Peinador,  built  by  Yusuf  I,  giving  an  admirable 
view.  Its  upper  story  was  converted  by  Charles  V 
into  the  Peinador  de  la  Eeina,  the  "  Queen's 
Boudoir." 

The  Spaniards  about  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth 
century  constructed  the  small  but  attractive  "Court 
of  La  Reja,"  named  from  its  upper  story  window 
grilles,  between  the  Daraxa  and  the  Torre  de 
Comares.  In  it  are  cypress  trees,  a  favorite  adorn- 
ment of  the  Alhambra  gardens,  and  a  central  foun- 
tain. An  elaborate  staircase  conducts  to  the  Hall  of 


THE  ALHAMBRA  PALACE  145 

the  Ambassadors  in  the  Torre,  while  the  Viaducto, 
an  underground  passage,  leads  from  this  Court  be- 
low the  Sala  de  la  Barca,  over  to  the  Mexuar.  It 
also  gives  entrance  to  the  cellars  below  the  Torre, 
where  the  ancient  palace  keepers  had  their  apart- 
ments, and  to  the  extensive  and  luxuriant  baths  built 
by  Yusuf  I,  adjoining  the  Court  of  the  Myrtles. 
Here  are  halls  for  dressing  rooms  and  for  repose 
after  the  bath,  alcoves  for  couches,  and  a  gallery 
for  singers  who  entertained  the  royal  bathers. 
There  were  warm  and  cold  baths  with  marble  tubs, 
a  rich  mosaic  flooring  and  beautiful  fountain,  while 
superb  columns,  slender  and  most  artistic  with  the 
surmounting  Moorish  arches,  support  the  super- 
structure. To  the  westward  is  the  most  ancient  part 
of  the  Alhambra,  the  Court  of  the  Mexuar,  and  the 
Mexuar  itself  on  the  western  side  of  this  Court,  its 
name  derived  from  the  Arab  meshwar,  meaning  a 
"  council  chamber,"  it  being  now  a  chapel.  Here 
was  the  king's  audience  chamber,  and  adjoining  it  the 
mosque  built  by  Mohammed  V,  its  mihrab,  or  prayer 
recess,  facing  the  southeast  toward  Mecca,  being  the 
most  holy  part.  The  Spaniards  made  the  Mexuar 
a  chapel  in  1629,  its  altar  coming  from  Genoa.  The 
level  of  the  older  part  of  the  Alhambra  is  consider- 
ably below  that  of  the  larger  Courts  of  later  construc- 
tion. 

When  Charles  V  determined  to  build  his  Alham- 
bra palace,  he  removed  a  large  portion  of  the  south- 
VOL.  I— 10 


146  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

western  part  of  the  Moorish  structure,  and  here  was 
planned  a  building  forming  an  impressive  quad- 
rangle over  two  hundred  feet  square,  and  fifty-three 
feet  high,  with  five  entrances  on  the  southern  and 
western  sides.  The  elaborate  facade  of  this  struc- 
ture far  outshines  the  lower  and  less  attractive  outer 
walls  of  the  Moorish  Alhambra  buildings,  though 
the  new  palace  was  never  entirely  completed,  and 
building  went  on  at  intervals  for  a  century.  It  was 
to  have  had  a  high  domed  chapel  at  the  northeastern 
angle,  rising  above  any  building  or  tower  in  the  Al- 
hambra, and  also  a  huge  triumphal  arch  on  the 
southern  side  glorifying  Charles,  but  neither  got  be- 
yond the  original  plans  of  the  architects,  nor  was 
the  roof  entirely  finished.  The  cost  of  building  was 
defrayed  originally  by  tribute  levied  on  the  Moors 
who  remained  in  Spain,  but  the  supply  of  money 
ran  out,  and  subsequent  Spanish  sovereigns  had 
other  plans  in  view  elsewhere.  The  palace  is  built 
in  two  lofty  stories,  with  various  rooms  around  a 
central  circular  court  of  about  one  hundred  feet 
diameter.  Arcades  surround  this  court,  the  lower 
stage  being  of  Doric  and  the  upper  of  Ionic  columns. 
To  the  southeast  of  this  palace  was  the  Mezquita  Real, 
originally  the  small  mosque  of  Mohammed  III,  in 
which  the  first  Christian  mass  was  celebrated  after 
the  fall  of  Granada,  it  being  then  made  a  chapel. 
In  the  late  sixteenth  century,  however,  this  mosque 
building  became  insecure  and  was  taken  away  and  a 


THE  ALHAMBRA  PALACE  147 

new  church  constructed  on  the  site.  To  the  south- 
ward is  the  first  convent  built  in  Granada,  San 
Francisco,  begun  in  1493,  the  year  after  the  Span- 
ish possession.  Here  were  buried  the  Catholic  kings 
of  Spain  until  their  removal  to  the  Cathedral  of 
Granada  in  1521.  In  the  garden  of  the  Generalife, 
on  the  higher  hill,  east  of  the  Alhambra,  is  the  Court 
of  the  Cypresses,  its  central  pond  shaded  by  gigantic 
trees  of  great  age.  Under  the  "  Cypress  of  the  Sul- 
tana," "said  to  be  six  hundred  years  old,  tradition 
tells  of  the  tryst  of  Boabdil's  queen  and  Hamet, 
Chief  of  the  Abencerrages,  which  had  so  much  to  do 
with  the  quarrels  leading  to  the  fall  of  Granada. 

The  Alhambra  is  the  attraction  of  Granada,  but 
the  city  itself,  while  to  an  extent  neglected  and 
presenting  evidences  of  decay  and  dilapidation,  is 
also  interesting.  The  capture  of  Granada,  which 
drove  the  Moors  from  their  last  stronghold  in  Spain, 
caused  the  most  extensive  rejoicing  throughout 
Christendom  and  it  was  marked  by  special  Te  Deums 
in  the  churches  everywhere.  It  was  natural  that 
the  devout  sovereigns  of  Spain,  Ferdinand  and  Isa- 
bella, "  the  Catholic  kings,"  should  desire  to  mark 
their  great  victory  by  the  erection  of  an  imposing 
cathedral  in  the  Moorish  capital,  as  the  memorial  of 
conquest.  But  their  architects  were  unable  to 
adapt  the  Alhambra  or  the  mosques  or  other  build- 
ings in  the  city  to  the  purpose,  and  these  sovereigns 
died  without  the  realization  of  the  project.  Charles 


148  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

V  began  it,  however,  and  laid  the  cornerstone  in 
1523,  where  the  chief  mosque  stood,  on  the  higher 
ground  of  the  Segrario,  alongside  the  Darro  ravine, 
of  the  Cathedral  of  Santa  Maria  of  the  Incarnation, 
a  Gothic  structure  consecrated,  when  still  incomplete, 
in  1561.  It  was  two  centuries  building,  and  is  one 
of  the  most  impressive  churches  of  Spain.  It  is 
nearly  four  hundred  feet  long  and  about  two  hun- 
dred and  twenty  feet  wide  in  the  interior,  the  west- 
ern f  agade  having  been  designed  to  rise  in  two"  towers, 
of  which  the  southern  was  never  built,  while  the 
northern  tower  is  constructed  in  three  stages,  Doric, 
Ionic  and  Corinthian,  to  a  height  of  about  one  hun- 
dred and  ninety  feet,  having  been  intended  to  rise 
eighty  feet  higher.  Above  the  principal  entrance  is 
a  large  relief  of  the  Incarnation.  The  interior  of 
the  cathedral  is  a  nave  with  double  aisles  and  out- 
lying chapels,  having  a  handsome  marble  pavement, 
decoration  chiefly  in  white  and  gold,  and  massive 
piers  supporting  the  vaulting  one  hundred  feet  above. 
The  great  Capilla  Mayor,  east  of  the  nave,  is  nearly 
one  hundred  and  fifty  feet  long,  and  one  hundred 
and  fifty-five  feet  high,  surmounted  by  a  lofty  domed 
roof  borne  on  massive  Corinthian  columns,  having 
at  their  feet  colossal  statues  of  the  Apostles,  while 
above  are  paintings  representing  scenes  in  the  life 
of  the  Virgin,  and  admirable  stained  glass  windows. 
Below  are  kneeling  figures  of  the  Catholic  kings  of 
Spain. 


THE  ALHAMBRA  PALACE  149 

» 

On  the  south  side  of  the  cathedral,  toward  the 
west,  is  the  Segrario,  now  used  as  a  parish  church, 
and  occupying  the  site  of  the  principal  mosque  of 
Granada,  which  had  been  the  Christian  church  down 
to  the  time  of  the  consecration  of  the  cathedral.  It 
was  on  the  door  of  this  mosque  that  the  knight 
Hernan  Perez  del  Pulgar  in  1490  pinned  with  his 
dagger  the  scroll  bearing  the  words  Ave  Maria,  and 
the  Capilla  de  Pulgar  at  the  corner  of  the  Segrario 
now  marks  the  spot.  On  the  south  side  of  the  cathe- 
dral, and  east  of  the  Segrario,  is  the  Capilla  Real, 
the  burial  chapel  of  the  Catholic  kings.  This  was 
a  modest  structure  erected  by  Ferdinand  in  the  early 
sixteenth  century,  but  Charles  V  declared  it  "  too 
small  for  so  great  glory  "  and  had  it  enlarged.  Here 
are  the  monuments  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  the 
king  wearing  the  Order  of  St.  George  and  the  queen 
the  Cross  of  Santiago;  also  the  monuments  of  their 
daughter  Johanna,  and  her  husband  Philip  the 
Handsome  of  Austria,  who  wears  the  Order  of  the 
Golden  Fleece,  the  parents  of  Charles,  who  had  them 
interred  here.  The  demented  Johanna  used  to  carry 
her  husband's  leaden  coffin  about  writh  her  in  her 
journeyings,  and  a  few  steps  descend  to  the  vault, 
where  this  coffin  is  seen,  and  also  hers,  a  duplicate. 
There  are  two  fine  reliefs  in  carved  wood,  one  repre- 
senting the  baptism  of  Moors  by  Spanish  priests,  and 
the  other,  the  unfortunate  Boabdil  surrendering  the 
key  of  the  Alhambra  to  the  Cardinal  Mendoza  in 


150  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

the  presence  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella.  In  the 
sacristy  are  kept  Ferdinand's  sword  and  Isabella's 
sceptre,  crown  and  reliquary,  the  memorials  of  the 
"  Catholic  kings,"  and  also  her  missal,  which  is  laid 
on  the  high  altar  on  the  festival  day,  January  2, 
and  the  standard  which  the  queen  is  said  to  have  em- 
broidered and  which  was  raised  over  the  conquered 
city. 

To  the  northwest  of  the  cathedral  is  the  old  Con- 
vent of  San  Geronimo,  founded  soon  after  the  con- 
quest, and  now  a  cavalry  barracks.  Its  church  was 
the  burial  place  of  the  famous  Spanish  general,  who 
led  Ferdinand  and  Isabella's  armies,  the  "  Gran 
Capitan  " —  Gonsalvo  de  Cordova.  Above  the  en- 
trance is  his  coat-of-arms,  and  within,  the  tomb  of 
Gonsalvo  and  his  widow  Maria  Mearique.  The  hero 
captured  seven  hundred  banners  in  his  wars,  and 
these  formerly  all  surrounded  the  tomb.  There  are 
at  the  altar,  kneeling  figures  of  Gonsalvo  and  Maria, 
and  statues  clad  in  full  armor  of  four  of  his  promi- 
nent officers.  During  the  Carlist  troubles  in  1836 
a  mob  plundered  the  convent,  dug  up  the  tombs  and 
cast  out  the  bones  of  the  hero.  When  the  Christians 
entered  Granada,  after  their  long  campaign,  which 
had  been  planned  largely  by  Gonsalvo,  they  came  by 
the  Moorish  gate  south  of  the  city,  leading  from  the 
valley  of  the  Jenil, —  the  Bib-onexde, —  which  the 
Spaniards  "afterward  called  the  Puerta  de  los 
Molinos, —  to  which  the  road  led  up  from  the  bridge 


Tower  of  the  Seven  Floors,  Alhambra. 


THE  ALHAMBRA  PALACE  151 

crossing  the  river  at  the  Bomba  Mills,  whence  came 
the  name  of  the  gate.  The  defeated  Boabdil  de- 
spairingly left  the  Alhambra  at  the  gate  on  its  south- 
ern side  in  the  upper  part  of  the  Alameda, —  the 
Puerta  de  los  Siete  Suelos  —  the  "  Gate  of  the  Seven 
Floors,"  then  called  the  Bib-al-Godor  by  the  Moors. 
It  stood  on  a  bastion  and  had  very  tall  towers  at  that 
time,  with  subterranean  passages  and  coffers,  which 
gave  the  basis  for  some  of  Irving's  tales  of  hidden 
treasures.  Boabdil's  mournful  request  that  this 
gate  should  be  walled  up  after  his  departure  was 
granted  by  the  conquerors.  Boabdil  retreated  up 
the  Jenil  valley  among  the  lofty  Sierras,  the  snowy 
line  of  peaks  marking  the  entire  southeastern  hori- 
zon, and  giving  the  Alhambra  its  grandest  view. 
The  range  rises  in  the  Picacho  de  Veleta,  11,385 
feet,  and  the  massive  summit  of  the  Cerro  de  Mul- 
hacen,  the  "  Mount  of  Muley  Hassan,"  11,420  feet, 
the  highest  mountain  in  Spain.  The  tradition  is 
that  Boabdil,  as  he  entered  the  Sierra  Nevada  range, 
southeastward  of  Granada,  turned  at  a  point  where 
the  road  crossing  the  foot-hill  gave  the  final  view  of 
Granada  to  take  a  last  despairing  look  at  the  beauti- 
ful palace  he  was  compelled  to  leave.  His  eyes 
filled  with  tears,  and  his  lamentations  were  heart- 
rending, but  his  mother  Aisha,  made  of  sterner  stuff, 
rebuked  him,  saying:  "Weep  not  like  a  woman, 
for  what  you  could  not  defend  like  a  man."  This 
place  on  the  road  is  called  the  "  Last  Sigh  cf  the 


152  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

Moor,"  and  when  the  unfortunate  Boabdil  passed 
beyond,  there  ended  forever  the  Moorish  rule  in 
Spain,  which  had  continued  nearly  eight  centuries. 
This  ending  of  the  dynasty  of  Islam  and  the  entry 
of  the  Christian,  prompted  Lockhart's  lines  in  his 
Spanish  Ballads: 

There  was  crying  in  Granada  when  the  sun  was  going  down; 
Some  calling  on  the  Trinity  —  some  calling  on  Mahoun. 
Here  passed  away  the  Koran ;  there,  in  the  Cross  was  borne : 
And  here  was  heard  the  Christian,  bell,  and  there  the  Moorish 
horn. 


THE  BARBARY  COAST 


Entering  Africa — Abyla — Barbary  Pirates — Morocco — Cape 
Spartel — The  Atlas  Mountains — Larache — Rabat — Casablan- 
ca— Mogador — Tangier — Moorish  Life — El  Islam — Raisuli — • 
Bu  Hamera — Fez — Abdul  Aziz — Mulai  Hafid — Ceuta — Tetuan 
— The  Riffs — Penonde  Velez — Al  Mazemma — Melilla — Algeria 
— Oran — Tlemcen — Mansoura — Mostaganem — Algiers,  the  Af- 
rican Paris — Blidah — Ancient  Numidia — Kabylia — Bougie — 
Philippeville — Bona — Constantine — Lambessa — Timgad — Bis- 
kra— Sidi  Okba — Touggourt — Tunisia — The  Mejerda — Cape 
Bon — Cape  Blanc — Tunis — La  Goulette — The  Bardo — Ruir.3 
of  Carthage — The  Byrsa  Hill — Ancient  Utica — Biserta — 
Susa — Kairouan — Thysdros — Sfax — Syrtes  Minor  and  Syrtes 
Major — Syrtica — Tripoli — Fezzan— Moorzook — Barca — Beng- 
hazi— Tolmeta — Apollonia — Cyrene — The  Sahara — The  Si- 
rocco— The  Simoom — Sahel — Lybian  Desert — The  Oases — 
Siwah — Fountain  of  the  Sun — Bahryeh — Dahkel — Khargeh 
— Tafilet— Tuat— The  Tauregs— Ship  of  the  Desert. 

ENTERING   AFRICA. 

From  the  Rock  of  Gibraltar  the  outlook  south- 
ward across  the  Strait  is  upon  the  hills  of  Africa, 
culminating  in  the  limestone  masses  of  the  Sierra 
Bullones.  These  hills  rise  in  the  summit  of  Abyla, 
the  African  Pillar  of  Hercules,  elevated  2,710  feet 
and  far  outtopping  Gibraltar.  The  ancient  classic 
name  of  Abyla  was  changed  by  the  Moors  to  the 

155 


156  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

Gebel  Musa,  the  "  hill  of  Musa,"  who  was  the  Mos- 
lem ruler  of  that  region  when  the  Moors  invaded 
Spain,  and  gave  the  other  Pillar  its  name  of  Gebel 
Tarik,  from  the  leader  of  the  invasion.  The  Sierra 
projects  in  the  promontory  overlooking  Ceuta  and 
forming  the  northeastern  buttress  of  the  coast,  which 
then  courses  off  southeastward  into  the  Riffs,  a  par- 
tially explored  range  of  hills  running  down  in  cliffs 
to  the  coast  and  forming  the  Mediterranean  border 
for  two  hundred  miles  or  more.  The  An j  era,  a  wild 
race  of  Berbers,  occupy  the  part  of  the  coast  opposite 
Gibraltar  and  pretend  to  observe  a  sort  of  nominal 
allegiance  to  the  Sultan  of  Morocco.  Westward  the 
coast  of  the  Strait  in  front  of  the  Bullones  extends 
to  Cape  Malabata,  beyond  which  is  the  beautifully 
indented  bay  of  Tangier,  having  on  its  farther  side 
Cape  Spartel,  the  northwestern  projection  of  Africa. 
A  small  and  pudgy-shaped  steamer  usually  makes 
daily  journeys  across  the  strait  from  Gibraltar  south- 
westward  to  the  white  houses  of  Tangier,  fringing 
the  hills  and  shores  of  its  beautiful  bay,  and  on  this 
voyage,  occupying  barely  three  hours,  takes  the  trav- 
eller away  from  modern  civilization  into  the  land 
of  the  Moors,  and  sets  him  backward  at  least  a  thou- 
sand years. 

The  whole  of  the  Mediterranean  coast,  stretching 
from  the  Atlantic  eastward  to  the  desert  adjoining 
Egypt,  is  the  ancient  land  of  Barbary,  extending  in- 
land southward  to  the  almost  indeterminate  borders 


Lighthouse,  Cape  Spartel. 


ENTERING  AFRICA  157 

of  the  great  Sahara  desert.  The  Romans  called  it 
Libya.  It  includes  the  Moslem  states  of  Morocco, 
Algeria,  Tunisia,  Tripoli  and  Barca,  and  its  name 
comes  from  its  most  ancient  inhabitants,  the  Berbers, 
who  were  the  primitive  people  of  northern  Africa, 
occupying  the  country  before  the  Arab  invasion,  and 
from  the  mixed  descent  afterward  came  largely  the 
present  partially  dominant  race,  the  Moors.  This 
Barbary  coast,  since  the  middle  ages,  has  been  best 
known  to  the  world  as  the  base  for  the  most  extensive 
and  complete  systems  of  piracy  and  brigandage  that 
ever  existed,  and  from  this  the  term  "  the  Barbary 
Coast "  has  been  used  as  a  synonym  for  the  locale  of 
piratical  forms  of  business.  During  the  sixteenth, 
seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries,  the  governments 
and  peoples  of  this  region  were  the  common  foes  to 
Mediterranean  commerce  and  travel,  almost  their  en- 
tire subsistence  being  the  produce  of  piracy,  either 
through  captured  property,  ransoms  for  prisoners,  or 
the  blackmail  levied  on  maritime  nations  for  im- 
munity. The  piratical  system,  which  had  been 
previously  in  vogue  in  various  ways,  seems  to  have 
been  first  made  a  scientifically  conducted  business  by 
the  Barbarossa  brothers,  a  couple  of  Greek  rene- 
gades who  became  Moslems,  and  were  born  at 

O  ' 

Mitylene,  Lesbos,  in  the  later  fifteenth  century. 
Barbarossa  means  the  "  red  beard,"  and  these 
brothers  who  were  corsairs,  entered  the  service  of 
Turkey  and  became  the  terror  of  the  Mediterranean. 


158  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

Arudj,  the  older  brother,  was  invited  by  the  Emir 
Selim  Eutemi  of  Algiers,  in  1516,  to  aid  him  against 
the  Spaniards.  He  soon  made  himself  master  of 
Algiers,  murdered  the  Emir,  and  gained  headway 
against  the  Spaniards,  but  afterward  was  besieged 
and  captured  by  Charles  Vs  troops  and  executed  in 
1518.  Subsequently,  the  younger  brother,  Khair- 
ed-Din,  obtained  the  assistance  of  Sultan  Selim  I  at 
Constantinople,  and  managed  to  recover  Algiers. 
He  was  put  in  command  of  the  Turkish  fleet,  forti- 
fied Algiers,  and  conquered  Tunis  and  almost  the 
whole  coast,  for  the  Turks.  In  1535,  Charles  V 
retook  Tunis,  but  Barbarossa  with  his  stronghold  at 
Algiers,  was  in  full  control  of  the  Mediterranean, 
aided  the  French  against  Charles,  ravaged  the  Ital- 
ian coasts  and  defeated  their  admiral  Andrea  Doria 
of  Genoa,  making  in  1543  a  wholesale  foray  along 
the  French  and  Italian  Riviera  shores,  in  which  he 
captured  many  thousands  of  prisoners  and  took  them 
to  Constantinople,  where  he  died  in  1546. 

The  piratical  methods  of  the  Barbary  powers,  thus 
organized  upon  an  effective  system  by  these  princely 
corsairs,  continued  practically  unchecked  until  the 
early  nineteenth  century.  Few  attempts  were  made 
to  oppose  them  by  force.  The  more  important  Eu- 
ropean governments  paid  these  pirates  regular  an- 
nual tributes,  because  this  gave  them  the  monopoly  of 
the  valuable  Mediterranean  trade,  as  against  the 
smaller  countries  that  could  not  afford  to  pay,  and 


ENTERING  AFRICA  159 

were  afraid  of  the  corsairs.  In  the  later  period 
England  was  paying  about  $280,000  a  year,  and  put 
the  price  high  to  prevent  rival  bids,  the  tribute  be- 
ing supplemented  by  constant  concessions  and  pres- 
ents. Part  of  the  tribute  was  always  demanded  in 
armed  vessels,  ammunition  and  naval  stores,  so  that 
thus  in  practice,  the  civilized  nations  were  actually 
furnishing  the  means  for  plundering  themselves. 
The  ransom  of  captives,  of  whom  many  were  taken, 
was  usually  a  matter  of  public  and  private  charity, 
and  collections  were  frequently  taken  in  churches 
for  this  object.  Algiers  was  always  the  piratical 
headquarters,  and  in  1786  there  were  about  twenty- 
two  hundred  captives  held  there.  The  breaking  up 
of  this  system  came  primarily  through  the  efforts  of 
the  United  States.  After  the  revolution,  the  Ameri- 
can vessels  in  the  Mediterranean  were  no  longer  pro- 
tected by  the  British  tributes,  and  the  pirates  began 
attacking  them.  In  July,  1785,  the  Algerines  cap- 
tured two  American  vessels  with  twenty-one  men, 
which  caused  excitement.  Congress  in  1784  had  ap- 
propriated $80,000  to  buy  immunity,  after  the  Eu- 
ropean plan,  and  various  sums  were  paid  until  1795 
without  satisfactory  results,  when  Congress  voted 
$992,463  to  pay  Algiers  for  peace  and  the  ransom 
of  all  the  American  prisoners.  This  tribute  in- 
cluded a  thirty-six-gun  frigate  costing  nearly 
$100,000  and  about  $100,000  more  in  stores  and 
ammunition.  Treaties  were  also  made  with  other 


160  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

Barbary  states,  and  down  to  1802  the  cost  had  been 
over  $2,000,000  to  the  United  States,  without  secur- 
ing a  satisfactory  result,  for  while  the  tribute  was 
taken,  the  treaties  were  repeatedly  broken.  The 
feeling  became  acute,  and  a  period  of  desultory  war- 
fare followed,  continuing  until  1815,  when  Commo- 
dore Decatur  went  to  the  Mediterranean  with  a 
strong  naval  fleet,  captured  Algiers,  forced  the  Dey 
to  sign  a  treaty  and  surrender  all  captives  without 
ransom,  and  then  compelled  the  rulers  of  Tunis  and 
Tripoli  to  make  similar  treaties,  releasing  all  Chris- 
tian prisoners  of  whatever  race.  This  energetic 
campaign  induced  England  to  take  similar  action 
the  next  year,  Algiers  being  bombarded  and  twelve 
hundred  Christian  slaves  released.  But  Tunis  and 
Tripoli  did  not  fully  abandon  piracy  until  1819, 
and  Algiers  continued  it  in  a  desultory  way  until 
1829,  when  France  finally  compelled  it  to  cease, 
blockading  the  city  and  capturing  it  in  1830.  This 
closed  over  three  centuries  of  piracy  along  the  Bar- 
bary  coast,  although  the  nomadic  tribes  of  the  Riff 
and  others  elsewhere,  still  keep  up  a  warfare,  with 
clandestine  wreckage  upon  the  shore  and  successful 
brigandage  in  the  interior. 

MOROCCO. 

When  the  Arabs,  in  the  wonderful  expansion  of 
their  conquests,  following  the  death  of  Mohammed, 


MOROCCO  161 

overran  the  whole  of  northern  Africa,  they  called 
the  region  toward  the  Atlantic  Maghreb-el-Aksa, 
"  the  extreme  West."  From  this  came  the  name  of 
their  city  in  this  region  of  Marrakesh,  now  corrupted 
into  Morocco,  and  the  name  of  the  State.  This 
country  gives  probably  the  best  present-day  ex- 
hibition of  the  nomadic  Arab  tribal  system  and  of 
resultant  misrule,  which  the  Moslem  lands  present, 
in  its  constant  feuds  and  changes  of  rulers.  The  in- 
terior boundary  of  the  country  of  Morocco  is  only 
vague  lines  toward  the  south  (the  Sahara  desert) 
and  the  east,  bordering  Algeria.  The  latter  bound- 
ary begins  on  the  Mediterranean  at  the  mouth  of  a 
small  stream  called  the  Skis,  and  then  is  extended 
across  the  interior  in  a  generally  south-southeastern 
direction.  It  is  well  said  that  the  southern  bound- 
aries of  this  rather  indeterminate  country,  "  expand 
and  contract  according  to  the  power  and  activity  of 
the  central  authorities."  In  fact,  the  allegiance  of 
many  of  the  nomadic  tribes  within  the  recognized 
boundaries  is  questionable  and  intermittent,  while  ac- 
curate information  about  the  topography  and  char- 
acter of  the  interior  is  scarce  and  defective,  with 
little  known  beyond  a  few  miles  on  either  side  of  the 
routes  that  have  for  centuries  been  travelled  by  cara- 
vans, occasionally  including  Europeans.  This  land 
was  the  Roman  Mauritania,  previously  first  settled 
by  the  Phoenicians,  and  afterward  controlled  by 

Carthage.     It  was  conquered  by  the  Vandals  upon 
VOL.  I— 11 


162  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

the  downfall  of  Rome,  and  is  full  of  Roman  remains, 
there  still  being  survivals  of  the  Roman  roads  con- 
structed south  from  Tangier.  Belisarius  recovered 
it  from  the  Eastern  Empire  in  the  fifth  century,  and 
then  came  the  Arab  invasion.  The  Arabs,  however, 
were  sturdily  resisted  by  the  Berbers,  who  are  still 
the  inhabitants  of  the  hilly  districts  of  Morocco,  and 
the  more  numerous  portion  of  the  population.  After 
the  seventh  century,  the  Moorish  dynasties,  success- 
ively in  control  of  Spain,  were  usually  in  power  in 
Morocco.  The  Portuguese,  in  their  colonial  expan- 
sion, made  conquests  in  the  early  fifteenth  century, 
occupying  a  good  deal  of  the  coast,  and  subsequently, 
the  Spaniards,  English  and  Dutch  secured  posses- 
sions. In  the  later  period,  France  and  Spain  have 
been  practically  the  arbiters  of  the  country,  England 
assenting,  and  Germany  seeking  a  foothold.  Mo- 
rocco in  the  earlier  times  of  Moorish  power  had  a 
much  larger  population  than  now,  the  estimates  at 
present  being  uncertain  and  varying  from  five  to 
seven  millions  of  people  of  all  races.  Their  uni- 
versal unrest  makes  somewhat  of  a  paradox,  their 
national  salutation,  "  May  peace  be  in  your  path," 
and  so  defective  is  their  system  of  agriculture  that 
less  than  one  per  cent  of  the  arable  land  is  under 
cultivation.  Morocco  is,  however,  the  great  Moslem 
stronghold  of  the  present  time,  with  a  virile,  unruly 
and  fanatical  population,  most  of  them  animated  by 
the  hope  of  some  day  having  revenge  against  the 


MOROCCO  1C3 

enemies  of  Islam,  and  particularly  against  Spain, 
the  nation  which  banished  the  Moors  from  Southern 
Europe. 

Westward  from  the  Bay  of  Tangier,  the  coast  of 
Morocco  is  prolonged  in  the  Jebel  Keber,  a  ridge 
rising  nearly  nine  hundred  feet,  its  seaward  extrem- 
ity, the  northwestern  coast  of  Africa,  being  Cape 
Spartel,  known  to  the  ancients  as  Ampelusia,  or 
Cotes  Promontorium.  Its  lighthouse,  which  is  main- 
tained at  the  joint  expense  of  England,  France, 
Spain  and  Italy  is  almost  the  only  one  on  the  west- 
ern coast  of  Morocco.  Southward,  this  Atlantic 
coast,  extends  for  eight  hundred  miles,  without  pic- 
turesque feature,  being  remarkable  for  its  regularity 
and  monotonous  sameness,  there  not  being  a  single 
gulf  or  estuary  of  any  size  throughout  its  whole 
length,  and  few  and  only  feebly  marked  capes. 
Southward  from  Cape  Spartel  the  shore  sinks  grad- 
ually and  almost  to  the  sea  level,  the  development 
of  commerce  at  most  of  the  small  ports  being  re- 
tarded by  the  treacherous  roadsteads,  and  the  uncer- 
tainty of  communication  between  ship  and  shore 
during  some  seasons  of  the  year.  There  is  an  oc- 
casional town  or  ruined  village  of  long  ago  along  the 
inland  hills,  with  a  background  of  higher  plateaus 
and  summits  off  toward  Eez,  the  capital.  The  in- 
terior of  the  country  is  composed  largely  of  undulat- 
ing steppes,  varied  by  low  hills,  and  is  traversed  by 
ranges  of  mountains  stretching  from  the  west  to  the 


164:  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

east,  the  impressive  backbone  of  Morocco  being  the 
Great  Atlas,  a  range  about  5,000  feet  high  at  its 
western  extremity,  then  falling  off,  but  to  the  east- 
ward rising  to  10,000  feet  elevation,  while  beyond 
the  lower  Pass,  sixty  miles  from  .the  sea,  which  leads 
from  the  City  of  Morocco,  it  rises  to  11,500  feet. 
Farther  east  there  are  other  passes  and  low  parts,  and 
then  it  culminates  in  peaks  rising  13,500  feet. 
Snow  remains  as  late  as  June  on  some  of  the  higher 
Atlas  summits.  Pliny  said  that  in  his  time  the 
people  called  these  mountains  the  Dyren,  and  they 
are  still  the  Daren  of  the  Berbers.  Viewed  from  the 
lower  regions  at  the  northward,  the  Atlas  range  pre- 
sents an  impressive  and  august  appearance,  appar- 
ently rising  in  abrupt  and  even  steep  ascents,  but 
actually  the  slope  from  base  to  summit  on  that  side 
is  about  fifteen  miles.  These  mountains  are  the 
source  of  a  generous  rainfall,  and  the  Moroccan  pro- 
verb is  that  "  Famine  never  comes  with  wet  feet." 
The  Morocco  rivers  all  rise  in  the  Atlas  mountains, 
their  summer  current  (the  dry  season)  being  com- 
paratively feeble,  but  the  rains  of  winter  and  the 
melting  snows  of  spring  make  streams  of  great  vol- 
ume as  shown  by  their  broadened  beds.  The  best 
known  river  is  the  Muluya,  which  the  French  are 
anxious  to  make  the  western  Algerian  boundary. 
This  was  the  ancient  Mulucha  and  Melva,  to  which 
Pliny  refers,  but  its  course  has  been  only  scantily 
explored.  Pliny  also  referred  to  the  Tamuda,  which 


THE  ATLANTIC  SEABOARD         165 

Ptolemy  called  the  Thaluda,  and  this  is  now  the 
Martil,  flowing  into  the  Bay  of  Tetuan.  As  not 
more  than  a  hundredth  part  of  the  available  surface 
of  Morocco  is  cultivated,  it  is  still  true  as  quoted  by 
Addison,  that  the  Moors  "  seldom  reap  more  than 
will  bring  the  year  about."  Thus  the  failure  of  a 
single  harvest  usually  makes  a  famine.  In  the 
primitive  transportation  methods  of  the  country,  the 
patient  camel  is  the  chief  beast  of  burden,  though 
some  mules  and  asses  are  thus  employed,  but  the 
sympathetic  Arab  and  chivalrous  Berber  never  puts 
his  noble  horse  to  such  base  uses  as  carrying  a  pack, 
and  he  thoroughly  despises  a  railroad. 

THE    ATLANTIC    SEABOARD. 

As  there  are  no  railroads  in  Morocco,  the  ancient 
caravan  routes  from  the  interior  which  have  ex- 
isted from  time  immemorial  have  their  outlets  at 
various  small  and  generally  indifferent  ports  on  the 
Atlantic  coast.  Under  the  Algeciras  Convention, 
all  these  ports,  as  well  as  those  on  the  Mediterranean 
shore,  are  in  French  and  Spanish  control.  The  first 
port  beyond  Cape  Spartel  is  Larache,  held  by 
the  Spaniards.  This  is  about  forty  miles  southwest 
of  Tangier,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Wadi  el  Khos,  and 
was  the  ancient  Lixus,  there  being  remains  of  a 
Pho3nician  settlement.  It  was  here  that  some  of  the 
old  time  chroniclers  located  "  in  the  remote  West 
and  beyond  the  Pillars  of  Hercules  "  the  island  and 


166  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

garden  where  that  hero  got  the  golden  apples  of  the 
Hesperides.  Near  the  mouth  of  the  river  is  a  nar- 
row island,  about  six  hundred  feet  long,  and  for 
centuries  this  was  the  abiding  place  of  a  daring  horde 
of  Barbary  pirates,  against  whom  the  Austrian  war- 
ships were  sent  in  1829,  destroying  the  settlement 
and  the  last  pirate  fleet  of  Morocco. 

A  little  way  farther  is  Rabat,  held  by  the  French, 
and  the  special  port  of  Fez.  To  this  place  in  Sep- 
tember, 1907,  the  then  Sultan,  Abdul  Aziz,  made  a 
journey  at  the  head  of  his  army,  over  the  desert  from. 
Fez,  not  having  ventured  outside  his  capital  for  five 
years  previously.  This  enabled  his  brother,  the 
rival  Sultan,  Mulai  Hafid,  who  had  been  previously 
proclaimed  in  Southern  Morocco,  to  get  possession  of 
Fez.  Mulai's  supporters  were  opposed  to  the 
European  control  and  innovations,  and  hence  their 
revolt.  Abdul  Aziz  abandoned  his  capital  and  came 
to  Rabat  really  for  the  protection  of  the  French  war- 
ships, upon  which  he  depended  for  maintaining  the 
semblance  of  power.  Here  he  remained  several 
months,  making  occasional  incursions  against  hostile 
tribes  in  the  interior,  and  in  the  summer  of  1908, 
being  emboldened  by  some  temporary  advantages 
gained  in  skirmishes,  he  marched  out  to  oppose 
Mulai  Hafid,  whose  forces  were  some  distance  south- 
ward toward  Marrakesh,  (Morocco  City).  In  Au- 
gust he  met  the  enemy,  but  in  the  most  surprising 
way,  though  not  unusual  in  Moroccan  warfare,  his 


THE  ATLANTIC  SEABOARD  167 

forces  nearly  all  deserted  to  Mulai,  leaving  him  with 
only  a  handful  of  adherents,  and  then  Mulai  was 
proclaimed  as  Sultan  at  Tangier  and  elsewhere 
throughout  the  country.  Abdul  Aziz  in  a  few  days 
accepted  the  situation,  disbanded  his  forces,  and 
told  them  to  go  whither  they  willed.  Thus  the 
sovereign  was  changed,  and  Mulai  was  generally  ac- 
cepted as  Sultan  by  the  European  Powers,  as  he 
promised  obedience  to  the  Algeciras  Convention,  and 
the  protection  of  Europeans.  His  heritage  from 
Abdul  Aziz  was  an  empty  treasury,  about  $30,000, 
000  of  debts,  and  a  restless  and  turbulent  country 
through  the  rivalries  of  the  tribal  chiefs  in  different 
localities.  One  correspondent,  writing  from  Tan- 
gier, significantly  described  the  situation :  "  Abdul 
Aziz  inherited  a  throne:  he  has  left  his  successor  a 
footstool  with  all  the  stuffing  taken  out." 

At  Rabat  the  river  Burckrag,  coming  down  from 
the  mountains,  makes  a  sort  of  bay  at  its  outlet,  with 
an  indifferent  harbor,  and  here  was  made  on  the 
bluff  shore  a  settlement  known  as  early  as  the 
thirteenth  century,  and  which  long  was  notorious  as 
a  nest  of  pirates.  Beyond,  down  the  coast,  is 
Casablanca,  now  under  joint  French  and  Spanish 
control,  and  farther  southwest  are  Mazagan,  Saffi 
and  Mogador,  under  French  control,  the  latter  being 
the  seaport  of  Marrakesh.  In  the  summer  of  1907 
the  frequent  outbreaks  caused  French  and  Spanish 
warships  to  be  sent  to  all  these  ports,  their  guns  con- 


168  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

trolling  the  wild  tribes  that  since  have  shown  a  more 
peaceful  inclination  after  the  severe  treatment  some 
of  them  received. 

Casablanca,  the  "  White  House/'  is  a  town  of 
about  seven  thousand  people,  having  a  poor  harbor 
that  is  being  improved  by  building  a  protective 
breakwater  for  which  Europeans  provide  the  funds. 
Abdul  Aziz,  after  his  sudden  downfall,  came  here  in 
September,  1908,  bringing  his  harem  and  a  small 
retinue,  and'  settling  on  a  farm  outside  the  town 
under  French  protection.  During  the  outbreaks  at- 
tending the  rivalries  of  the  two  Sultans,  this  place 
was  very  turbulent.  The  Moors  generally  hate  the 
Jews,  who  are  the  leading  traders  at  the  Moroccan 
ports,  and  in  April,  1907,  a  Portuguese  Jew  was 
killed  at  Casablanca  by  a  negro  in  the  pay  of  a 
Moor,  the  murderer  receiving  for  his  crime  an 
amount  of  money  equivalent  to  about  nineteen  cents. 
Efforts  were  made  for  punishment,  and  there  began 
a  period  of  disturbance,  resulting  in  a  raid  into  the 
town  in  July  by  various  unruly  Arab  tribes  from  the 
interior,  who  wished  to  exterminate  the  Jews  and 
other  traders,  drive  out  the  Europeans,  and  stop  the 
harbor  improvements.  They  massacred  nine  for- 
eigners, mostly  Frenchmen,  and  the  result  was  a 
visit  by  the  warships  and  bombardment  and  partial 
destruction,  early  in  August,  1907,  of  the  Arab  town, 
over  a  thousand  being  slain,  and  the  French  troops 


THE  ATLANTIC  SEABOARD        169 

landing  and  establishing  a  fortified  camp.  Tliers 
were  fierce  and  almost  constant  Arab  attacks  through- 
out August  and  early  September,  and  the  troops 
might  have  been  driven  into  the  sea  had  not  the 
ships'  guns  defended  them,  cutting  off  the  raiding 
parties  with  great  slaughter.  The  picturesque  Arab 
cavalry,  mounted  on  their  superb  horses,  galloped  in 
repeated  charges,  waving  their  weapons  and  chanting 
texts  from  the  Koran,  but  while  their  bullets  wrought 
havoc  among  the  French  soldiers,  yet  the  well-aimed 
shells  from  the  ships  always  ploughed  through  the 
Arab  squadrons  and  broke  up  these  charges.  Maza- 
gan,  farther  down  the  coast,  was  also  bombarded  and 
seriously  damaged  in  August,  1907,  to  punish  out- 
breaks against  the  European  residents.  Casablanca 
since  has  been  generally  quiet.  Soon  after  Abdul 
Aziz  arrived  here,  however,  in  September,  1908,  there 
was  a  disturbance  of  a  new  character  which  came 
near  embroiling  Europe.  On  September  25,  six 
soldiers  of  the  French  foreign  legion  that  was  hold- 
ing the  town,  deserted,  and  two,  being  Germans, 
secured  protection  from  the  German  Consul,  who 
sent  them  aboard  a  German  vessel  in  the  harbor. 
The  French  would  not  stand  for  this,  but  seized 
them  while  being  taken  to  the  German  ship,  and 
they  were  confined  in  a  French  prison.  This  made 
a  great  sensation,  producing  an  ugly  feeling  both  in 
Germany  and  France,  but  the  tension  was  gradually 


170  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

relieved.  Abdul  Aziz,  in  the  latter  part  of  1908,  be- 
came reconciled  to  his  brother  Abdul  Hamid,  and 
thereafter  made  Tangier  his  home. 

Mogador,  or  Sairah,  is  the  best  Moroccan'  port  on 
the  Atlantic  coast,  being  behind  a  small  island  which 
protects  the  roadstead.  This  was  an  early  settlement 
of  Portuguese  traders  who  built  a  fort  on  the  bluffs 
along  the  shore,  surrounded  by  sandy  lowlands  over- 
flowed by  the  sea  at  high  tide.  This  is  the  seaport 
of  Marrakesh  which  is  about  one  hundred  and  thirty 
miles  inland.  Mogador,  coming  under  Moorish  con- 
trol in  the  eighteenth  century,  was  enlarged  and  for- 
tified with  walls  and  towers,  and  is  really  two  towns 
—  the  Citadel,  inhabited  by  the  Moors,  and  the 
Mellah,  which  is  the  Jews'  quarter.  In  the  Citadel 
are  dungeons,  where  in  times  past  the  Sultan's 
political  prisoners  have  been  confined.  This  port 
was  placed  under  control  of  the  French  by  the 
Algeciras  Convention.  It  was  here  that  the  unrest 
and  general  disturbance  prior  to  the  1907  outbreaks 
led  to  the  first  proclamation  of  Mulai  Hafid  as  a 
rival  Sultan,  he  getting  a  sort  of  allegiance  from  the 
wandering  tribes  of  the  western  coast  engaged  in 
the  outbreaks.  Mulai  to  strengthen  himself  at  once 
married  four  wives,  and  stopped  the  Jewish  per- 
secutions, preferring  to  take  their  tribute.  About  the 
same  time  Bu  Hamera,  called  El  Roghi,  the  "  Pre- 
tender," claiming  to  be  Sultan  in  Eastern  Morocco, 
who  for  years  had  enjoyed  a  sort  of  authority,  again 


A  MOSLEM  TOWN  1T1 

became  active ;  .  and  Raisuli,  the  "  Rob  Roy  of 
Morocco,"  resumed  his  spectacular  brigandage,  so 
that  this  peculiar  country  had  four  rival  rulers,  in 
different  localities,  with  numerous  smaller  chieftains 
of  nomadic  fame,  holding  temporary  sway  in  various 
regions,  so  long  as  some  stronger  force  did  not  come 
along  and  capture  them  or  drive  them  out. 

A    MOSLEM    TOWN. 

The  bay  of  Tangier,  while  a  rather  indifferent 
harbor,  is  by  far  the  best  roadstead  possessed  by 
Morocco,  and  hence  Tangier  has  become  its  chief 
commercial  town.  The  port  is  in  a  most  picturesque 
situation,  upon  the  hills  of  the  western  margin  of 
the  shallow  semicircular  bay,  and  it  is  one  of  the 
oldest  settlements  in  the  world,  the  Tingis  of  the 
Roman  time.  The  white  houses  are  surrounded  by 
a  wall  with  ancient  towers  and  gates,  the  Kasba,  or 
Citadel,  rising  on  the  highest  elevation.  It  is  a 
thoroughly  Moslem  town,  and  the  nearest  place  to 
America  and  western  Europe,  where  the  oriental 
civilization  may  still  be  seen  unchanged  and  un- 
adulterated. What  has  to  be  largely  imagined  in 
the  former  Moorish  lands  of  Cordova  and  Granada, 
is  seen  in  present  reality  in  Tangier  and  Morocco. 
The  brief  journey  across  the  Strait  from  Gibraltar 
puts  the  visitor  in  the  midst  of  Islam.  The  approach 
is  beautiful;  a  white  town,  occupying  the  sides  of 
two  hills,  one  projecting  boldly  into  the  sea.  The 


172  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

battlemented  walls  rise  from  the  narrow  beach  along 
the  shore,  and  mount  the  tops  of  precipitous  rocks. 
Some  batteries  display  guns  frowning  over  the  har- 
bor, and  above  are  the  terraces  forming  the  town, 
everything  being  dazzlingly  white,  though  here  and 
there  a  green  tree  appears  as  if  to  make  the  white- 
ness more  impressive.  The  high  minaret  of  the 
chief  mosque,  curiously  painted,  is  in  front,  with  a 
banner  flying  at  the  top.  Away  toward  the  east 
run  off  the  hills  of  the  Bullones,  culminating  in  the 
distant  Jebel  Musa,  while  to  the  westward  rises  the 
breezy  elevated  plateau  of  the  Marshan,  its  eastern 
verge  being  the  Kasba,  and  the  surface  occupied  by 
pleasant  villas  and  a  large  cemetery,  having  near  it 
the  remains  of  old  Phoenician  tombs  cut  in  the  living 
rock.  The  plateau  boldly  culminates  in  the  sea- 
viewing  hill  known  as  Mount  Washington,  from  which 
there  is  the  grand  prospect  across  the  Strait  that 
Browning  tells  about  in  his  Home  Thoughts  From  the 
Sea: 

Nobly,  nobly  Cape  Saint  Vincent  to  the  northwest  died  away; 

Sunset  ran,  one  glorious  blood-red,  reeking  into  Cadiz  Bay; 

Bluish  'mid  the  burning  water,  full  in  face  Trafalgar  lay; 

In  the  dimmest  northeast  distance  dawned  Gibraltar,  grand 
and  gray; 

Here  and  there  did  England  help  me:  how  can  I  help  Eng- 
land ?  —  say, 

Whoso  turns  as  I,  this  evening,  turn  to  God  to  praise  and 
pray 

While  Jove's  planet  rises  yonder,  silent  over  Africa. 


A  MOSLEM  TOWN  173 

Farther  westward,  about  nine  miles  from  the  town, 
is  the  promontory  of  Cape  Spartel.  A  rough  mule 
path  leads  thither  and  it  displays  a  beautiful  land- 
scape of  rock  and  ocean,  with  moorland  inland, 
stretching  off  to  a  horizon  of  mountains. 

In  Tangier  is  seen  the  home  life  of  the  Moor. 
The  narrow  and  uneven  streets  are  impassable  for 
wheeled  vehicles,  and  scarcely  afford  room  for  the 
camels  and  beasts  of  burden.  The  one-story  houses, 
their  rooms  all  facing  on  small  interior  courts, 
present  only  bare  walls  to  the  streets,  although  they 
are  gradually  being  replaced  with  taller  and  more 
modern  structures  constructed  by  Europeans  and 
generally  in  Spanish  style.  There  is  a  great  attrac- 
tion in  wandering  through  these  narrow,  crooked 
streets  and  getting  glimpses  through  the  half-opened 
doors  leading  directly  into  the  living  and  work  rooms. 
Then  the  street  crowds  display  the  solemn,  monk- 
like  Moors,  stalking  by  in  white  or  colored  robes, 
brilliant  fez  or  turbans,  and  yellow  slippers;  the 
swarthy  Jews  in  sombre  black ;  the  Kabyles  from  the 
Berber  villages;  the  negro  slaves  from  the  interior; 
and  the  white  muffled  figures  of  the  women.  From 
the  first  morning  call  of  the  muezzin  to  prayers,  the 
town  is  busy  as  a  swarm  of  bees,  especially  down  by 
the  harbor  and  in  the  market-places,  and  everything 
that  is  done  has  to  be  accompanied  by  a  vast  amount 
of  yelling  and  apparently  of  quarrelling.  But  the 


174:  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

streets  are  filthy,  there  being  no  sanitary  arrange- 
ments, and  the  place  is  redolent  with  unsavory  odors, 
though  not  unhealthy,  for  its  magnificent  climate 
has  made  it  a  health  resort,  which  attracts  many  who 
avoid  these  drawbacks  by  living  in  the  suburbs.  The 
shipping  lie  off  the  port  and  most  of  the  cargo  has 
to  be  lightered  ashore.  There  is  a  pier,  but  it  is  a 
modest  affair,  only  recently  constructed  for  the  use 
of  small  boats  which  bring  the  passengers  from  the 
outlying  steamers.  Before  it  was  built,  the  pas- 
senger was  conveyed  from  the  boat  to  the  beach, 
usually  on  the  back  of  an  industrious  Jew,  for  it  is 
well  known  that  no  Moslem  will  demean  himself  by 
carrying  an  infidel,  even  for  "  baksheesh."  Scat- 
tered over  the  harbor  surface  are  many  feluccas, 
as  the  native  boats  are  called,  the  sea  waves  tossing 
their  three-cornered  sails  from  side  to  side.  There 
is  little  done  in  Tangier  to  attract  the  visitor,  it  hav- 
ing neither  theatres,  casinos,  brilliant  cafes  nor 
bands  of  music,  as  at  most  watering  places ;  but  the 
population  presents  a  variety  show  of  infinite  interest, 
and  in  the  market-places,  catering  to  the  crowds,  are 
jugglers  and  snake  charmers;  story-tellers  and  a 
breed  of  most  importunate  beggars;  camels  and 
asses ;  fierce-looking  coast  pirates  from  the  Riff,  hav- 
ing the  single  long  lock  of  hair  by  which  they  expect 
to  be  hoisted  into  Heaven  when  the  resurrection 
comes;  and  a  great  conglomeration  of  all  kinds  of 
people,  most  of  whom  on  the  smallest  pretence  clamor 


10 


ol 


Entrance  to  a  Mella,  or  Jewish  Quarter. 


A  MOSLEM  TOWN  175 

for  the  universal  tribute  of  all  Moslem  lands,  the 
"  baksheesh."  There  is  nothing  like  it  seen  in 
western  Europe,  and  as  no  such  thing  as  either  local 
government  or  police  supervision  is  dreamed  of, 
outside  of  a  sort  of  vague  consular  protection  for 
visitors  who  get  into  trouble,  the  condition  may  be 
imagined.  Blondin  is  said  to  have  once  remarked 
that  walking  on  a  tight-rope  is  easier  than  getting 
through  this  kind  of  streets.  At  the  same  time  it  is 
these  very  things  that  make  Tangier  a  favorite  haunt 
of  artists  and  travellers  in  search  of  the  picturesque 
and  curious. 

The  Kasba,  rising  about  four  hundred  feet  above 
the  town,  is  the  principal  structure,  a  citadel  of 
the  fifteenth  century,  but  now  only  a  group  of  un- 
impressive and  dilapidated  buildings.  There  are 
included  a  mosque  and  the  Governor's  residence  and 
prison.  Some  of  the  rooms  imitate  the  Alhambra 
decorations,  and  the  Pasha's  Harem  is  visited  some- 
times by  ladies,  who  ingratiate  themselves  with  the 
inmates  by  presents,  usually  of  candies.  The  Great 
Mosque  is  not  far  from  the  harbor,  and  on  the 
southern  side,  its  tower  built  in  Giralda-like  archi- 
tecture, and  having  a  handsome  entrance.  The 
town  has  few  other  attractive  buildings.  Originally 
Tangier  was  a  Phoenician  settlement,  and  grew  in 
importance  under  the  Roman  domination.  It  fell 
into  Arab  possession  about  the  year  700,  and  was 
their  capital  of  the  extreme  western  province  of  the 


176  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

Damascus  caliphate.  Portugal  got  possession  in 
1471,  and  England  in  1662,  when  it  came  as  part  of 
the  dowry  of  Catherine  of  Braganza,  wife  of  Charles 
II,  but  the  English  abandoned  it  in  1684,  since  which 
time  the  government  of  Morocco  has  nominally  con- 
trolled it.  The  present  somewhat  antiquated  forti- 
fications are  of  Spanish  construction.  The  German 
Emperor  William  recently  set  longing  eyes  upon  it, 
and  made  a  flying  visit  in  March,  1905,  the  Moors 
giving  him  a  rousing  welcome,  and  the  Sultan  of 
Morocco  sending  his  band  from  the  capital  to  lead 
the  landing  procession.  William  found  in  Tangier 
a  noble  looking  Moor,  nearly  seven  feet  tall  and 
large  in  proportion,  and  this  Moor  he  took  away 
as  a  trophy  to  Berlin,  where  he  joined  the  company 
of  tall  soldiers  in  the  First  Guard  Regiment,  and 
carried  the  bell-tree  for  the  band  at  a  salary  of  five 
cents  per  day. 

Among  the  suggestions  made  to  the  visitor  who 
first  ventures  among  the  Moslems  are  these:  Do 
not  exercise  yourself  about  the  care  of  your  animal 
or  servant,  or  ask  unnecessary  questions.  Never 
under  any  circumstances  point  at  a  man  with  the 
finger;  or  ask  after  your  host's  family;  or  blow  out 
a  light  —  it  should  be  extinguished  by  passing  the 
hand  rapidly  over  it.  Staring  at  a  Moor  when  going 
through  his  devotions  must  also  be  avoided,  as  the 
Moslem  regards  this  as  an  insult.  Never  in  asking  for 
a  light  for  a  cigar  use  the  literal  expression  "  Give  me 


A  MOSLEM  TOWN  177 

a  light,"  for  this  Arabic  phrase  is  Djib  lee  ennar, 
and  the  word  ennar  also  signifies  "  hell,"  so  that 
the  consequences  may  be  imagined.  The  proper 
phrase  is  Djib  lee  afia  —  "  Give  me  peace."  Photo- 
graphing and  sketching  shock  the  Arab's  religious 
prejudices,  and  sometimes,  especially  if  the  sketch  is 
of  a  mosque,  rough  treatment  may  follow.  A  very 
calm  and  impassive  demeanor  is  recommended,  as 
this  evidence  of  dignity  is  impressed  upon  the 
Moor. 

The  religion  of  the  Moors  —  Mohammedanism,  or 
as  they  call  it,  "  El  Islam," —  is  based  upon  the 
fundamental  principles  that  "  There  is  but  one 
God  "  and  "  Mohammed  is  his  prophet ;  "  and  the 
era  of  Islam  dates  from  the  Hegira,  or  the  Prophet's 
Flight  to  Medina,  in  the  year  622  A.  D.  They 
believe  that  God  sent  six  great  prophets  into  the 
world  —  Adam,  Noah,  Abraham,  Moses,  Jesus  and 
Mohammed  —  the  last,  in  their  view,  having  been 
the  greatest.  Each  of  these  prophets,  they  hold, 
represented  the  will  of  God  for  a  certain  dispensa- 
tion, and  each  in  turn  was  superseded.  The  Jews 
therefore  they  recognize  as  having  been  true  believers 
from  the  time  of  Moses  to  Jesus.  They  deny,  how- 
ever, that  the  existing  versions  of  the  books  of  Moses, 
the  Psalms  and  Gospels,  are  authentic,  only  the 
Koran  they  say  having  come  down  unaltered  from 
its  first  composition,  though  this  as  an  actual  fact 

is  doubtful.     The  Moslems  accept  the  doctrines  of 
VOL.  1—12 


178  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

future  reward  and  punishment  and  the  immortality 
of  the  soul;  but  the  more  enlightened  among  them 
regard  figuratively  the  descriptions  of  the  joys  of 
Heaven  as  depicted  in  the  Koran.  The  admission 
to  Paradise  is  got,  not  by  merit,  but  by  the  mercy  of 
God  and  by  his  absolute  decree,  and  they  believe 
generally  in  predestination,  holding  that  some  are 
elect  to  eternal  happiness,  whom  they  call  welees,  or 
"  the  chosen."  The  result  of  their  belief  in  pre- 
destination is  that  in  times  of  distress  the  men  dis- 
play exemplary  patience,  and  in  affliction  a  remark- 
able fortitude.  There  are,  strictly  speaking,  no 
priests  in  the  mosques.  The  chief  religious  officer 
attached  to  a  mosque  is  the  Nasir  or  Warden,  who 
is  trustee  of  the  endowments,  and  appoints  all  the 
other  officials.  These  are  the  Imaums,  who  lead  the 
services,  the  KTiatebs  who  preach  on  Friday,  the 
Moslem  Sabbath,  and  the  Muezzins  who  sonorously 
chant  the  prayer  calls  from  the  minarets. 

Almsgiving,  fasting,  prayer  and  pilgrimage,  with 
frequent  purifications  by  washing,  are  scrupulously 
enjoined  upon  all  true  believers  by  Mohammed. 
Yearly,  in  the  month  Ramadan,  the  great  fast  is 
held,  but  as  the  Moslem  year  is  only  354%  days, 
this  and  other  fasts  and  feasts  constantly  shift. 
Prayer  is  always  preceded  by  ablutions,  as  prayer  is 
not  accepted  from  an  unclean  person.  It  is  proper 
to  lay  a  carpet  on  the  ground  when  praying,  and 
these  rugs  or  carpets  the  faithful  carry  with  them, 


A  MOSLEM  -TOWN  179 

and  the  dress  should  also  be  clean.  The  Moslem 
entering  a  mosque  leaves  his  shoes  outside,  performs 
his  ablutions  at  the  water  basin,  in  the  court,  if 
not  already  purified,  and  then  turning  toward 
Mecca  —  the  direction  being  indicated  by  the  prayer 
recess  in  the  wall,  performs  his  various  prostrations 
and  orisons.  On  Friday,  the  reading  chair  and 
pulpit  are  brought  into  use;  portions  of  the  Koran 
are  recited,  and  a  sermon  is  preached  by  the  Khateb, 
who  sits  on  the  top  step  of  the  pulpit  stairs.  In 
the  intervals  of  prayer  on  Fridays,  the  faithful  may 
transact  worldly  business.  Every  day  the  devout 
Moslem  has  five  periods  for  the  repetition  of 
prayers;  First,  Maghreb,  a  little  after  sunset; 
second  Asha,  nightfall,  about  an  hour  and  a  half 
after  sunset;  third,  Subh,  daybreak;  fourth,  Dulir, 
midday;  and  fifth,  AST,  afternoon,  about  three 
o'clock.  These  periods  of  prayer  also  serve  to  mark 
the  divisions  of  the  day,  which  begins  at  sunset. 
The  sonorous  call  of  the  -muezzin,  however,  suffices 
for  the  prayer  of  most  of  the  people,  which  they 
repeat  after  him.  This  call,  in  the  Arabic,  when 
translated  is  "  Allah  is  Great ! "  repeated  three 
times.  "  I  testify  that  there  is  no  God  but  Allah, 
and  Mohammed  is  the  Prophet  of  Allah !  "  repeated 
twice ;  "  Come  to  prayer !  "  repeated  twice.  In  the 
desert,  where  water  is  unobtainable,  the  faithful  are 
permitted  to  use  sand  for  their  ablutions.  The 
worshipper,  facing  Mecca,  begins  by  holding  his 


180  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

hands  to  the  lobes  of  his  ears,  and  then  a  little  below 
his  girdle,  and  as  he  recites  passages  from  the  Koran, 
he  pauses  to  make  repeated  prostrations. 

The  great  fast  in  the  month  of  Ramadan  is 
scrupulously  observed,  from  daybreak  to  sunset,  all 
eating  and  drinking  being  prohibited,  and  the  most 
devout  even  avoid  swallowing  their  saliva.  There 
are  prolonged  repasts  in  the  night,  as  a  compensa- 
tion. Many  offices  and  shops  are  entirely  closed 
during  this  month,  which  is  a  lunar  cycle.  Alms- 
giving is  a  religious  duty,  certain  alms  being  com- 
pulsory and  others  voluntary,  but  considered  highly 
meritorious.  The  pilgrimage  to  Mecca  is  the  fourth 
great  duty,  which  all  good  Moslems  try  to  make  at 
least  once  in  their  lives,  though  this  is  very  difficult 
from  a  country  as  distant  as  Morocco.  The  boys  are 
sent  to  school  to  read  the  Koran,  but  general  educa- 
tion is  scant.  The  girls  are  not  sent  to  school,  nor 
is  their  attendance  at  Mosque  regarded  as  essential 
or  even  desired,  and  from  most  mosques  women  are 
excluded.  They  are  commanded  however  to  visit 
the  tombs  of  their  deceased  relatives,  and  keep  them 
in  repair.  The  Moslem  believes  that  the  spirit  of 
every  true  believer  goes  to  a  place  of  happiness,  to 
await  the  resurrection;  when  reunited  to  the  body, 
it  will  enter  into  Paradise;  and  in  the  meantime 
the  soul  every  Thursday  visits  the  grave  of  the  body. 
For  this  reason  many  females  go  on  that  day  to  the 
cemeteries,  and  commune  with  the  spirits  of  the  dead 


A  MOSLEM  TOWN  181 

as  though  actually  present,  telling  them  all  the  news 
and  family  gossip.  The  Koran  says  in  the  43d 
verse  of  the  40th  Surah  (chapter)  "  Whosoever  per- 
forms good  works  and  believes,  men  as  well  as 
women,  shall  enter  Paradise."  The  pilgrimage  to 
Mecca  is  undertaken  in  the  last  month  of  the  Moslem 
year,  called  Dhulliijjeli,  or  "  the  month  of  the 
pilgrimage."  This  event  culminates  at  Mecca  in 
a  great  sacrificial  feast,  when  sheep  are  slaughtered, 
and  this  feast,  called  the  Great  Beiram,  is  observed 
in  all  Mohammedan  countries.  The  Moslems  have 
the  worship  of  saints  at  their  tombs,  the  same  as 
at  the  tomb  of  Mohammed  at  Medina  in  Arabia,  and 
there  are  few  towns  which  do  not  have  such 
shrines. 

The  Koran  was  a  revelation  of  supernatural  origin 
to  Mohammed,  whose  name  means  "  the  praised." 
He  was  born  about  570  A.  D.,  and  before  reaching 
his  fortieth  year  had  a  dream  on  Mount  Hira,  near 
Mecca,  which  gave  him  the  original  impulse  to  op- 
pose the  vanity  of  idolatry.  His  first  converts  were 
in  his  own  family,  and  in  622  A.  D.  they  migrated 
to  Medina,  where  the  new  religion  made  great 
progress.  The  name  of  Koran  means  the  "  re- 
hearsal "  or  "  reading,"  and  the  first  revelation 
vouchsafed  him,  was  on  what  he  called  the  "  blessed 
night "  in  the  year  609,  and  the  revelation  of  the 
book  continued,  with  interruptions,  for  twenty-three 
years,  until  the  whole  of  it,  which  had  already  existed 


182 

on  the  "  well-preserved  table  in  Heaven,"  had  been 
communicated  to  the  prophet.  It  is  divided  into 
parts  or  chapters  called  surahs.  The  Koran  is  re- 
garded as  the  masterpiece  of  Arabian  literature,  and 
the  Moslem  prayers  consist  almost  entirely  of  the 
recitation  of  passages  from  it.  The  translation  of 
the  Koran  is  prohibited,  and  therefore  in  other  lands 
than  where  the  Arabic  language  is  spoken,  it  is 
taught  the  children  entirely  by  rote.  Mohammed 
built  the  first  mosque  at  Medina,  in  a  yard  planted 
with  date  trees  —  a  square,  capacious  structure 
with  brick  and  earthen  walls,  the  trunks  of  the  date 
trees  being  the  columns  supporting  the  roof  which 
was  a  thatch  of  palm  leaves.  There  were  three 
doors,  and  Mohammed  was  buried  nearby.  This 
was  afterward  replaced  by  a  larger  but  similar 
building,  the  Mesdjid-en-Neky,  or  "  Mosque  of  the 
Prophet,"  which  became  the  model  for  all  mosques. 
The  minaret  for  the  muezzin  was  added  about  a 
half  century  after  the  Hegira.  There  are  two  classes 
of  mosques:  those  of  rectangular  form,  where  the 
court  is  surrounded  by  arcades  of  columns;  and 
those  where  the  court,  whether  rectangular  or  cunei- 
form, is  surrounded  by  closed  spaces.  The  larger, 
or  cathedral  mosques,  where  sermons  are  preached 
on  Friday  and  prayers  offered  for  the  sovereign,  are 
called  Jami.  Each  of  these  has  a  court  of  con- 
siderable size,  usually  uncovered,  in  the  centre  being 


A  MOSLEM  TOWN  183 

the  fountain  for  the  ablutions.  Adjoining  the  east 
side  of  the  court  is  the  Maksura,  covered  with 
carpets  or  mats,  and  containing  the  holy  vessels. 
In  the  Maksura  is  the  Milirdb  or  prayer  recess  facing 
towards  Mecca,  called  Kibla;  the  Mimbar  or  pulpit 
to  the  right  of  the  Mihrab,  from  which  the  preaching 
is  done;  the  Kursi  or  desk  on  which  the  Koran  lies 
open  during  the  service  (being  kept  at  other  times 
in  a  cabinet) ;  and  the  Dikkeli,  a  pedestal  on  columns 
and  enclosed  by  a  low  railing,  from  which  the  as- 
sistants repeat  the  words  of  the  Koran  for  the 
hearing  of  those  at  a  distance.  There  are  also 
various  lamps.  Adjacent  to  the  Maksura  usually  is 
the  monument  of  the  founder  of  the  mosque;  while 
alongside  the  larger  court  is  a  smaller  one  with  a 
central  basin,  this  generally  being  entered  first  by 
the  worshipper.  The  Moslems  also  perform  their 
devotions  at  the  grated  windows  of  the  mausoleums 
of  their  saints,  called  Well.  Within  is  seen  a 
catafalque  covered  with  bright-hued  carpets,  although 
the  saint's  remains  may  not  be  there.  These  Wells 
are  numerous  in  all  Moslem  countries,  being  some- 
times built  into  the  houses.  They  are  dome-covered 
and  cubical  in  form  and  generally  whitewashed. 
Most  mosques  have  considerable  endowments  for 
purposes  of  benevolence,  education  and  piety,  and 
while  unadorned  by  paintings  or  sculptures,  like  the 
Christian  churches,  yet  the  Saracenic  art  is  invoked 


184:  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

to  attain  elegance  of  decoration  in  form  and  color, 
although  Islam  is  a  foe  to  all  representations  of  liv- 
ing creatures. 

Many  are  the  revelations  and  proverbs  attributed 
to  the  prophet.  One  of  the  most  significant  describes 
the  devastation  of  the  locust,  yet  indicates  its  limit. 
The  Arabs  tell  us  the  locust  thus  addressed  Moham- 
med :  "  We  are  the  army  of  the  Great  God ;  we  pro- 
duce ninety-nine  eggs :  if  we  produced  a  hundred  we 
should  consume  the  whole  earth  and  all  that  is  in 
it."  A  locust  actually  lays  more  than  a  hundred 
eggs,  and  multiplies  amazingly,  yet  here  is  indicated 
the  limit  to  its  enormous  progeny,  which  saves  the 
earth  from  devastation. 

THE     MOROCCAN     CAPITAL. 

There  are  few  Europeans  in  Morocco,  outside  of 
Tangier  and  the  other  coast  settlements.  The  Arabs 
are  proud  of  this,  and  they  often  speak  of  Tangier 
as  "  the  city  afflicted  of  Allah  with  dogs  and  infidels." 
To  go  into  the  interior,  the  visitor  has  to  travel  with 
guides  and  tent  equipage,  and  the  journey  also  re- 
quires guards,  for  there  is  risk  from  the  nomadic 
brigands  who  wander  over  the  country  and  are  not 
content  alone  with  "  baksheesh."  It  was  in  1905, 
that  the  American  citizen  who  resided  in  a  beautiful 
villa  on  the  mountain  at  the  western  verge  of  Tangier, 
Ion  Perdicaris,  was  kidnapped  with  his  stepson  from 
the  villa  itself,  and  carried  off  by  a  band  of  brigands 


THE  MOROCCAN  CAPITAL  185 

under  the  leadership  of  the  picturesque  outlaw, 
Raisuli,  and  taken  into  the  interior.  The  prisoners 
were  treated  all  right,  being  held  for  ransom,  and 
Perdicaris  described  his  captor  as  "  a  man  of  in- 
domitable courage,  with  polished  manners  and  cul- 
tivated mind."  All  sorts  of  threats  were  made  to 
secure  release,  and  an  American  fleet  of  warships  was 
sent  to  the  Moroccan  coast,  while  the  English,  French 
and  United  States  Governments  used  every  pressure, 
but  the  enterprising  brigand  made  his  point  and  did 
not  release  the  prisoners  until  the  demanded  ransom 
$70,000  was  paid  down  by  the  then  Sultan  Abdul 
Aziz,  who  also  sent  to  Eaisuli  the  appointment 
of  Governor  over  the  nomadic  tribes  that  wander  in 
the  regions  between  Tangier  and  Fez,  the  northern 
capital,  where  that  Sultan  had  chiefly  resided  until 
he  went  to  Rabat  in  1907.  Fez  is  distant  about  one 
hundred  and  seventy-five  miles  southeastward  from 
Tangier. 

Raisuli  would  have  been  an  impossibility  in  almost 
any  other  country  than  Morocco.  He  is  Mulai 
Ahmed  ben  Mohammed  er-Raisuli,  born  about  1866, 
a  Shereef,  or  direct  descendant  of  the  Prophet,  who 
received  an  excellent  education  in  religious  law  and 
the  Koran  at  Tetuan,  and  when  he  came  to  manhood, 
took  up  the  lucrative,  adventurous  and  somewhat 
risky  trade  of  a  cattle-robber.  This  is  a  calling  by  no 
means  despised  in  Morocco,  but  it  requires  courage, 
of  which  he  has  plenty.  He  soon  became  celebrated, 


186  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

he  and  his  band  earning  much  money  and  liberally 
spending  it.  But  the  cattle-stealing  led  to  other 
crimes,  and  murders  followed,  life  being  held  cheaply 
in  this  wild  country,  and  the  dead  soon  forgotten. 
But  on  one  occasion,  another  Shereef,  who  had  mar- 
ried his  sister,  proposed  to  take  a  second  wife,  which 
Raisuli  could  not  prevent,  and  on  the  night  of  the 
new  marriage,  amid  the  festivities,  Raisuli  and  his 
men  entered  the  house  and  murdered  the  bride  and 
her  mother.  His  crimes  became  so  notorious  that  the 
Sultan  ordered  his  arrest,  and  he  was  sent  to  the  dun- 
geons of  Mogador  where  he  remained  in  chains  nearly 
five  years,  once  escaping,  but  being  recaptured  in  a 
few  hours.  Ultimately  released  through  a  friend's 
intercession,  he  went  to  Tangier  to  live  peaceably,  but 
found  that  his  property  had  been  confiscated,  and  be- 
ing unable  to  recover  it,  he  resumed  his  old  profession 
and  became  a  brigand,  capturing  anyone  whose  pos- 
session gave  hope  of  ransom.  He  is  tall,  robust, 
handsome,  with  very  white  skin,  black  eyes,  short 
dark  beard  and  mustache,  eyebrows  that  form  a 
straight  line  across  the  forehead,  a  cruel  mouth,  and  a 
Grecian  rather  than  Semitic  profile.  His  voice  is 
soft  and  low,  his  expression  sad  and  his  manner  quiet 
and  charming,  but  to  his  followers  his  demeanor  is 
usually  haughty. 

After  the  Perdicaris  release,  Raisuli  became  a 
despot  and  his  actions  were  almost  unbearable.  He 
was  a  strong  Governor,  but  he  overdid  it,  disregard- 


THE  MOROCCAN  CAPITAL  187 

ing  all  treaties,  blackmailing  everyone  who  could  be 
reached,  and  becoming  so  intolerable,  that  at  the  re- 
quest of  the  European  representatives,  who  were  sec- 
onded by  a  formidable  fleet  of  warships  in  the  Bay  of 
Tangier,  the  Sultan  was  compelled  to  remove  him 
from  the  Governorship  at  the  close  of  1906.  But  the 
resourceful  bandit  bided  his  time.  He  retired  from 
Tangier  to  the  mountains  to  the  eastward,  started  an- 
other negotiation  to  try  and  make  an  arrangement  for 
pardon,  and  thus  induced  the  chief  adviser  of  the 
Sultan,  the  Englishman,  Kaid  General  Sir  Harry 
McLean,  to  come  to  him  for  consultation.  When 
McLean  came  in  July,  1907,  Raisuli  promptly  made 
him  a  prisoner,  took  the  horses  and  tents  that  were 
sent  as  presents,  and  then  demanded  for  McLean's 
ransom  $200,000,  the  rebuilding  of  his  house  which 
had  been  burnt,  his  reappointment  as  Governor,  and 
the  additional  post  of  Commander  of  the  Police  of 
Tangier.  McLean  was  a  British  army  officer,  the 
virtual  commandant  of  the  Sultan's  forces,  and  the 
most  influential  man  in  Morocco,  so  that  his  capture 
was  the  bandit's  master-stroke.  It  was  said,  how- 
ever, of  Raisuli,  that  after  the  manner  of  his  imagi- 
native race  "  he  begins  by  asking  for  the  moon,  but 
would  be  content  with  a  few  of  its  beams."  The 
Moroccans  could  do  nothing  with  him,  and  then  the 
British  Government  took  up  the  negotiation  for  Mc- 
Lean's release,  Raisuli  finally  restoring  him  to  liberty 
for  what  might  be  regarded  as  very  substantial  moon- 


188  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

beams.  After  seven  months'  captivity,  in  February, 
1908,  the  prisoner  was  brought  back  to  Tangier  and 
liberated.  Raisuli,  as  the  result  of  the  negotiation, 
secured  $100,000  ransom,  and  fifty-six  of  his  ad- 
herents who  had  been  captured  in  various  raids  were 
restored  to  him.  The  British  also  guaranteed  pro- 
tection to  Raisuli  and  twenty-eight  of  his  relatives, 
who  had  got  into  trouble.  To  insure  the  future  good 
behavior  of  the  bandit,  however,  $75,000  of  the  ran- 
som remained  in  bank  under  British  control,  but  Rai- 
suli is  paid  $250  monthly  interest  on  this  fund. 
Since  the  adjustment  he  has  been  peaceably  disposed 
and  Kaid  McLean  returned  to  England.  After  the 
accession  of  Sultan  Mulai  Hand,  Raisuli  presented 
him  with  $25,000  of  the  British  ransom,  thus  get- 
ting the  new  Sultan's  friendship,  who  made  Raisuli 
the  Governor  of  Djebala  Province,  controlling  about 
a  dozen  Arab  tribes  in  northern  Morocco,  in  the 
spring  of  1909. 

When  Mulai  Hafid  was  first  proclaimed  in  West- 
ern Morocco  as  a  rival  sultan  to  his  brother  Abdul 
Aziz,  he  at  once  liberated  all  the  political  prisoners 
Abdul  had  incarcerated  at  Mogador  and  Morocco 
City,  declaring  he  would  oppose  any  concessions  to 
Europeans.  His  financial  necessities,  however,  soon 
caused  him  to  change  this  unfriendly  policy. 
Mulai's  other  rival  Bu  Hamera  had  been  in  evidence 
for  several  years.  This  Pretender,  known  as  El 
Roghi,  claimed  a  divine  inspiration,  calling  him- 


THE  MOROCCAN  CAPITAL  189 

self  El  Moghreb  Bu  Hamera,  which  may  be  trans- 
lated as  "  the  patriarch  who  rides  upon  a  she  ass." 
He  secured  a  strong  foothold  in  Eastern  Morocco, 
getting  great  influence  over  the  Eiff  tribes  of  the 
Anjera  district  east  of  Tangier,  who  usually  are  at 
war  with  the  Europeans  and  Moors  alike.  He  had 
always  aspired  to  the  Sultanate,  and  in  the  summer 
of  1909  marched  inland  to  capture  Fez  and  dethrone 
Mulai.  Several  conflicts  were  fought  outside  the 
walls  without  positive  result  for  either,  and  in  July, 
El  Roghi  made  a  close  siege,  forcing  his  way  into 
the  city  and  pillaging  the  shops.  But  one  of  those 
curious  changes,  so  common  among  these  people, 
came  in  August,  El  Roghi  was  defeated  and  fled, 
but  was  captured  and  brought  into  Fez,  'being  taken 
through  the  streets  confined  in  an  iron  cage  strapped 
on  the  back  of  a  swaying  camel.  He  sat  erect,  dis- 
regarding the  popular  jeers,  and  was  conducted  into 
Mulai  Hafid's  presence,  who  closely  questioned  him 
about  his  crimes  and  his  property  and  then  had  him 
confined  in  a  dungeon  in  the  palace.  There  followed 
a  series  of  horrible  tortures,  to  mitigate  which  El 
Roghi  gave  up  all  his  treasures  that  had  been  placed 
in  European  banks,  but  in  vain.  Some  fifty  de- 
capitated heads  of  his  followers  were  displayed  in 
public  places  about  Fez,  as  a  warning  to  rebels.  El 
Roghi  himself  was  thrown  into  a  den  of  wild  beasts 
and  horribly  wounded,  and  on  September  12  was 
slain  in  the  presence  of  the  Imperial  harem.  In- 


190  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

tervention  by  the  foreign  representatives  stopped 
further  cruelties. 

Several  years  ago,  when  some  roving  bands  of  the 
Anjeras  helped  Abdul  Aziz's  troops  capture  a  party 
of  Raisuli's  horsemen  in  the  Riff  region,  that  astute 
brigand  heard  that  the  correspondent  of  the  London 
Times  had  gone  out  of  Tangier  on  a  shooting  ex- 
pedition, and  swooping  down  out  of  the  hills,  cap- 
tured him.  There  was  a  great  commotion  caused 
by  this  coup,  the  British  warships  were  again  in- 
voked, and  Raisuli  was  given  back  sixteen  of  his 
captured  followers  as  a  ransom  for  the  correspondent. 

Valiente  is  another  picturesque  bandit  who  wan- 
ders and  robs  at  will  throughout  the  country,  being 
related  to  the  Anjeras.  He  had  thirty-six  wives, 
and  Madame  du  Gast,  a  French  lady  fond  of  ad- 
venture, sometime  ago  visiting  Morocco,  says  that 
he  offered  them  all  to  her  as  slaves  if  she  only  would 
marry  him.  She  describes  Valiente  as  "  a  most 
adorable  bandit,"  adding  that  all  of  the  thirty-six 
ladies  were  presented  for  personal  inspection,  and 
immediately  prostrated  themselves  before  her,  im- 
ploring her  to  stay  and  rule  over  them.  Valiente 
on  account  of  his  numerous  robberies  and  murders 
was  complained  of  by  the  Europeans  and  Sultan 
Abdul  Aziz  had  him  imprisoned.  Soon  afterward, 
however,  the  Anjeras  captured  two  British  officers, 
and  to  ransom  these  Valiente  was  liberated.  When 
the  German  interest  in  Morocco  became  acute  in 


THE  MOROCCAN  CAPITAL  191 

1905,  their  bankers  made  a  loan  of  $2,250,000  to 
Abdul  Aziz,  and  his  first  investment  of  the  money 
remitted  was  to  send  $3,000  to  Egypt  to  bring  a 
party  of  dancers  from  Alexandria  to  install  in  his 
palace  at  Fez.  In  1907  he  had  to  pawn  his  jewels 
and  the  crown  regalia  at  the  Mont  de  Piete  in  Paris 
to  raise  $240,000  for  repayment  of  loan  charges,  and 
these  gems  were  put  up  for  sale  in  December,  1909, 
but  Mulai  Hafid  redeemed  them  in  January,  1910 
at  a  cost  of  $300,000  including  interest,  stopping 
the  sale.  Thus  is  gotten  some  idea  of  the  strange 
sort  of  government  Morocco  enjoys.  The  French 
government  in  1910  arranged  to  make  a  loan  of 
$16,000,000  to  Mulai  Hafid,  to  repay  his  pressing 
debts  including  $12,000,000  Casablanca  indemnity, 
and  will  be  reimbursed  by  the  customs  and  other 
revenues. 

There  has  been  very  little  European  travelling 
into  the  interior  of  Morocco  since  1906,  the  disturbed 
condition  of  the  country  preventing  it.  Under  ordi- 
nary circumstances,  formerly,  detachments  of  Moroc- 
can soldiers  were  provided  as  guards  for  visitors 
journeying  into  the  country,  and  the  traveller  al- 
ways had  to  obey  the  government  requirement  to 
abstain  from  going  into  assemblies  of  Mohammedans 
engaged  in  their  religious  observances,  and  was  thus 
excluded  from  the  mosques.  The  journey  from  Tan- 
gier to  Fez,  the  one  most  frequently  taken,  occupies 
a  week.  This  is  the  largest  city  of  Morocco,  and 


192  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

its  most  important  interior  community,  with  hardly 
a  dozen  European  residents,  out  of  a  population  ap- 
proximately of  a  hundred  thousand.  It  is  a  real 
oriental  city  and  as  yet  entirely  untouched  by 
European  influences. 

The  great  plateau  forming  Western  Morocco 
comes  up  to  the  Atlas  mountain  range,  and  through 
it  the  river  Seboo  flows  out  of  the  mountains  to  the 
Atlantic.  On  the  eastern  edge  of  this  plateau,  Fez 
is  situated,  in  the  valley  of  a  little  affluent,  the  Wad 
Fas,  composed  of  two  streams  uniting  in  the  town, 
and  then  dashing  down  the  deeply  indented  vale  to 
the  Seboo,  about  six  miles  away.  Sultan  Muley 
Edris,  who  lived  in  the  ninth  century,  was  the 
founder  and  patron  saint  of  Fez.  He  came  along 
with  his  caravan  one  day,  and  halting  in  the  pictur- 
esque valley,  decided  to  make  it  the  site  of  his  capi- 
tal. So  he  turned  the  first  sod,  and  as  he  did  so, 
said  "  Here  I  plant  my  hoe."  The  Arabic  word 
Fas  means  a  hoe,  and  thus  came  the  name  of  the 
Moorish  city  Fas,  which  we  know  as  Fez.  The 
tedious  journey  across  the  country  from  Tangier 
is  without  much  interest,  unless  the  brigands  may  be 
about,  and  as  the  capital  is  approached,  the  route  is 
over  a  level  grain-growing  district,  with  the  rugged 
foot-hills  of  the  Atlas  range  to  the  southward,  and 
behind  them  the  unexplored  snow  peaks  that  are  its 
higher  summits.  Then  a  long  line  of  gray  walls, 
marked  by  battlemented  towers,  appears,  having 


THE  MOROCCAN  CAPITAL  193 

within  the  white  buildings  of  the  Sultan's  Palace 
and  some  tall  minarets  of  the  mosques.  These  walls 
are  dilapidated,  about  four  miles  in  circuit,  and  the 
route  comes  to  an  end  at  the  Bab  Segma,  a  rather 
unpretentious  archway  in  the  walls,  which  is  really 
the  main  entrance  gate  to  the  city.  Here  lived  until 
1907  the  recently  deposed  Sultan,  Muley  Abdul 
Aziz,  who  was  born  in  1879  and  ascended  the  throne 
of  his  absolute  empire  in  1894,  while  yet  a  minor. 
He  is  of  the  Shereefian  race,  a  descendant  of  Mo- 
hammed. 

Another  gateway  to  the  right,  in  the  wall  where 
it  adjoins  the  palace  gardens,  leads  out  to  the  Msala, 
one  of  the  sacred  places.  Through  this  gateway  the 
Sultan  passes  on  the  great  religious  days,  to  pray 
at  the  Msala  on  the  hill-slope,  a  short  white-topped 
wall  with  a  mihrab  or  prayer  recess  facing  the  east, 
toward  Mecca.  Then,  standing  alone,  costumed  in 
white,  the  Sultan  leads  the  prayers  of  the  faithful, 
congregated  around  by  thousands,  they  and  their 
horses  clad  in  the  gaudiest  hues  of  the  rainbow.  A 
recent  visitor  to  Fez,  describing  some  of  the  pecul- 
iarities of  Abdul  Aziz,  said  he  was  very  fond  of 
jewels,  for  which  he  paid  fancy  prices,  and  was 
anxious  to  accumulate  various  things  which  he  re- 
garded as  representing  modern  progress.  For  this 
reason  he  went  in  for  gold-handled  bicycles,  cameras 
and  hansoms,  motor  cars  and  grand  pianos.  He  had 

about  two  hundred  bicycles  in  the  palace  including 
VOL.  1—13 


194  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

many  of  most  expensive  make,  with  gold  and  silver 
fittings.  He  was  a  great  trick  rider  on  the  bicycle 
and  delighted  in  riding  at  full  speed  up  narrow  in- 
clined planks.  He  is  an  excellent  piano  player  but 
a  very  reckless  motor  driver,  and  has  had  some  serious 
mishaps.  He  was  very  much  determined  in  col- 
lecting taxes,  as  he  was  always  in  debt,  and  he  would 
go  out  with  his  troops  to  enforce  the  payment.  He 
had  a  short  way  of  dealing  with  tax-resisters,  whose 
heads  were  promptly  cut  off.  He  is  a  strict  Moham- 
medan, keeping  all  the  tenets  of  the  faith,  and  neither 
smokes  nor  gambles.  A  pack  of  cards  he  regarded  as 
belonging  only  to  the  infidel,  and  he  would  not  touch 
them.  He  was  a  very  early  riser,  going  first  to  the 
mosque  and  then  consulting  his  ministers,  and  after 
a  meal  taking  a  short  siesta  before  receiving  visitors. 
He  is  amiable,  kind  and  friendly,  but  was  regarded 
as  too  weak  to  be  a  good  ruler  in  time  of  emergency. 
The  oldest  brother  of  Abdul  Aziz,  Prince  Muley 
Mohammed  the  "  one-eyed,"  should  of  right  have 
followed  his  father  Mulai  Hassan  upon  the  throne. 
But  through  the  machinations  of  Abdul's  mother,  a 
favorite  Circassian  slave,  he  was  supplanted.  The 
ancient  tradition  of  Morocco  was  that  a  one-eyed 
ruler  was  to  be  the  restorer  of  all  the  former  glory 
and  greatness  of  the  Moroccan  throne.  Abdul 
throughout  his  reign  kept  Muley  a  close  prisoner. 
After  Abdul  left  Fez,  for  Rabat,  it  looked  for  a 
while  as  if  Muley  Mohammed  might  be  enthroned, 


THE  MOROCCAN  CAPITAL  195 

but  the  Ulemas  of  El  Islam  met  and  were  induced 
to  declare  that  the  younger  brother,  Mulai  Hand,  had 
more  legal  and  actual  right  to  the  throne  than  either 
Muley  Mohammed  or  Abdul  Aziz.  The  result  was 
that  Mulai  with  his  forces  took  possession  of  Fez 
without  serious  opposition,  and  the  one-eyed  brother 
was  kept  in  prison.  This  continued  until  January, 
1909,  when  he  mysteriously  died,  with  rumors  of 
poisoning.  Mulai  Hafid  sought  earnestly  to  get 
recognition  from  France  and  Spain,  and  promising 
everything  required,  ultimately  secured  it.  Upon 
his  proclamation,  he  at  once  married  another  wife, 
and  announced  that  European  innovations,  such  as 
automobiles,  bicycles  and  the  aggregation  of  stuff 
which  Abdul  Aziz  had  collected  were  no  longer  to  be 
tolerated.  These,  which  had  cost  so  enormously  a^ 
to  help  to  bankrupt  Abdul,  Mulai  proceeded  to  de- 
stroy in  order  to  get  room  in  the  palace  where  they 
had  been  stored.  The  Sultan's  crown  and  jewels, 
which  Mulai  diligently  sought,  were  gone  however, 
for  Abdul  as  already  stated  had  sent  them  away  to 
pawn  for  the  German  loan. 

Fez  is  much  crowded,  there  being  an  "  old  "  and  a 
"  new  "  town,  both  of  them  ancient,  and  both  having 
narrow  and  dirty  streets,  while  the  houses  are  gen- 
erally of  brick  with  galleries  and  flat  roofs.  The 
city  formerly  had  several  hundred  mosques,  and  still 
contains  about  one  hundred,  two  being  quite  large. 
The  chief  mosque  was  founded  by  Sultan  Muley 


196  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

Edris  and  is  his  shrine  as  a  saint,  being  also  for  this 
reason  a  sanctuary  for  criminals.  The  other  large 
mosque,  El  Kairuin,  has  the  unusual  adjunct  of  a 
covered  court  in  which  the  women  pray.  In  the 
sixteenth  century,  Fez  was  a  famous  seat  of  Arab 
learning  and  it  has  a  University  called  the  House 
of  Science,  with  colleges  and  schools,  and  a  library 
of  rare  manuscripts,  among  which  are  said  to  be  the 
lost  books  of  Tacitus.  On  account  of  its  abundance 
of  mosques  and  sacred  relics,  Fez  is  the  holy  city  of 
the  Western  Arabs.  It  is  also  a  centre  of  the  caravan 
trade,  these  camel  processions  going  and  coming 
across  the  Great  Desert,  many  of  them  to  Timbuctoo, 
a  route  requiring  about  five  months  for  the  round 
trip,  beginning  usually  in  March  and  October.  The 
city  has  some  profitable  manufactures,  and  particu- 
larly makes  the  bright  colored  woolen  caps,  called 
"  fez,"  which  are  dyed  red  from  the  juice  of  a  berry 
found  nearby.  The  finest  red  morocco  also  comes 
from  Fez,  and  it  has  skilful  artisans  in  goldsmith's 
work  and  jewelry.  Its  caravans  collect  from  the  in- 
terior, for  export,  gums,  ivory,  spices,  ostrich-feath- 
ers,  and  similar  articles,  and  the  city  has  many 
caravansaries. 

Within  the  gate,  the  route  leads  to  the  oblong 
square  adjacent  to  the  palace,  this  being  also  sur- 
rounded by  walls,  and  having  gateways  at  either  end. 
In  front  is  the  "  Gate  of  the  Lion,"  a  fine  archway 
highly  colored  in.  modern  Moorish  style,  and  at  this 


THE  MOROCCAN  CAPITAL  197 

gate  daily  waits  a  Governor  of  Fez  to  dispense  jus- 
tice. He  sits  cross-legged  in  a  deep  niche  in  the 
gateway,  attended  by.  his  secretaries,  and  having 
squatting  in  a  semicircle  in  front,  his  numerous  de- 
tachment of  red-turbaned  and  white-robed  soldiers. 
Before  him  kneel  the  plaintiff  and  defendant  in  the 
suit  being  heard,  of  whom  it  is  well  said  by  an 
observer  that  they  are  "  both  talking  volubly  at  the 
same  time,  and  each  calling  upon  Allah  to  witness 
that  the  other  is  a  liar  —  which  is  probably  true." 
Beyond  this  gateway  is  another  square,  with  the  en- 
trances opening  upon  it  of  the  private  precincts  of 
the  palace,  and  here  is  usually  found  another  guard 
of  soldiers,  often  fast  asleep.  From  this  second 
square  the  routes  leading  to  old  and  new  Fez  divide, 
the  latter  on  the  upper  hill-slope  containing  the 
palace  and  official  district  and  the  Jews'  quarter,  or 
the  Mellah,  but  not  displaying  much  of  interest. 
The  old  town  is  the  most  attractive.  A  wide  road- 
way from  this  second  square,  bounded  by  the  high 
walls  encircling  the  Sultan's  garden,  leads  into  Bu 
Jelud,  a  large  open  space,  and  at  once  we  are  amid 
the  promiscuous  crowds  of  the  city.  Here  the  snake- 
charmers  and  story-tellers  congregate,  and  the  dev- 
otees of  various  Moslem  sects  go  through  their 
religious  ecstasies  for  "  baksheesh."  The  hill-slope 
is  steep  below  Bu  Jelud,  and  there  is  the  greater 
part  of  the  old  town,  upon  the  slopes,  winding  along 
the  course  of  the  Wad  Fas,  coming  from  the  higher 


198  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

plateau  down  through  the  palace  enclosures,  and 
then  going  off  into  old  Fez  farther  below.  When  the 
gateway  out  of  Bu  Jelud  is  passed,  the  genuine  old 
Fez  is  entered,  with  all  its  original  oriental  attrac- 
tions, its  peeps  into  the  sunny  courts  of  mosques,  its 
crowded  bazaars  and  narrow  streets. 

The  Talaa,  the  long  main  street  of  the  city,  goes 
through  its  heart,  from  Bu  Jelud  down  to  the  great 
Kairuin  Mosque,  at  the  bottom  of  the  hill.  Here 
is  always  a  varied  crowd :  "  shereefs,"  the  rich  and 
aristocratic  descendants  of  the  Prophet;  officials 
mounted  on  saddle  mules  and  attended  by  black 
slaves,  pushing  their  way  through  the  people,  and 
crying  balak,  which  is  polite  Arabic  for  "  get  out  of 
the  way  " ;  coal  black  negroes  bought  from  African 
tribes ;  fair  Fezzis,  having  pink  eyelids  fringed  with 
yellow  lashes:  a  veritable  medley  of  humanity,  dis- 
playing every  shade  of  flesh  and  color,  and  every  hue 
of  raiment.  Then  the  buildings  are  curious,  for 
ruin  and  decay  have  everywhere  placed  their  stamp, 
and  even  the  modern  structures  seem  to  display  the 
general  tendency  to  crumble.  There  are  two  struc- 
tures in  the  Talaa  exhibiting  great  beauties,  both  be- 
ing mosques  and  sanctuaries,  and  therefore  forbidden 
ground  to  the  Christians.  The  mosque  and  college  of 
Bu  Ainan,  to  the  outside  view  shows  an  exterior  more 
decorated  than  usual,  and  having  a  beautiful  display 
of  old  plaster  work  and  mosaic  tiling.  The  wood- 
carving  of  the  projecting  beams  and  their  supporting 


THE' MOROCCAN  CAPITAL  199 

brackets  is  excellent  in  design  and  workmanship. 
The  doorway  of  the  mosque  gives  a  passing  glimpse  of 
the  open  interior  court,  its  marble  floor  and  capacious 
central  fountain,  with  the  border  of  deep  shaded 
arcades,  presenting  a  handsomely  decorated  fagade. 
The  other  mosque,  lower  down  the  hill,  is  the  little 
sanctuary  of  the  Shrebelein,  its  square  tower  exqui- 
sitely decorated  in  mosaics  of  tiles  with  geometrical 
patterns  elaborately  displayed  between  the  project- 
ing edges  of  bricks.  This  beautiful  little  mosque 
stands  partially  out  in  the  Talaa,  giving  a  better  view 
of  the  tower,  the  green  tiled  roof,  exterior  arches  and 
buttresses,  making  a  perfect  specimen  of  medieval 
Moorish  art. 

Upon  the  Attarin,  a  view  can  be  hurriedly  got, 
through  the  door  of  the  sanctuary  of  Muley  Edris, 
but  it  has  to  be  quickly  seen,  for  a  Christian  stopping 
to  look  in  would  soon  be  hustled  by  the  crowds  of 
believers,  horrified  at  such  an  infidel  profanation  of 
the  holy  place.  The  transitory  peep  discloses  a  pic- 
ture of  dazzling  color,  mosaics  of  tiles  of  every  hue, 
gorgeously  painted  and  carved  woods,  delicate  plas- 
ter work,  a  marble  and  tile  floor  and  plashing  foun- 
tain. This  is  only  a  little  court,  the  building  not  be- 
ing of  large  size,  but  the  most  skilled  and  famous 
Moorish  workmen  have  been  employed  in  its  decora- 
tion, making  a  perfect  art  gem  of  the  tomb  and  of  this 
outer  court.  Within,  everything  is  similarly  gor- 
geous, the  wonderfully  carved  and  painted  roof  pro- 


200  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

tecting  the  rich  draperies  of  the  walls  and  the 
splendid  velvet  covering  of  the  saint's  sarcophagus. 
From  the  dome  hang  in  profusion,  lanterns,  lamps 
and  glass  chandeliers,  which  when  illuminated  must 
give  splendid  effect.  This  is  the  tomb  of  Muley 
Edris  II,  which  with  that  of  his  father  in  the  moun- 
tains of  Zarahun,  are  the  most  renowned  tombs  of 
saints  in  all  Morocco.  These  tombs  of  the  saints 
have  a  great  hold  on  the  population,  being  the  objects 
of  frequent  pilgrimages,  and  each  saint  having  his 
special  feast  day,  when  vast  crowds  come,  sacrificing 
sheep  to  his  memory,  and  making  merry.  Near  the 
door  of  this  mosque  of  Muley  Edris  is  the  chief 
caravansary  of  Fez,  called  the  Fondak  en  Najjarin. 
A  grand  arched  gateway  leads  into  the  courtyard,  its 
panels  of  rich  tiling  and  wonderful  overhanging  roof 
of  tier  upon  tier  of  carved  wood,  being  regarded  as 
perhaps  the  finest  in  the  empire.  Tall  grayish- 
yellow  walls  rise  above  and  all  around  this  architec- 
tural gem.  Upon  the  right  hand  side  is  a  drinking 
fountain.  In  the  interior  of  the  caravansary,  three 
tiers  of  galleries  surround  the  courtyard,  the  balus- 
trades being  of  the  finest  workmanship  in  cedar, 
which  has  turned  dark  with  age.  White  columns  di- 
vide the  panels  of  these  balconies,  supporting  the 
tier  above  and  having  capitals  of  finely  moulded 
plaster.  The  upper  tier  is  almost  entirely  enclosed 
by  small  horseshoe  arches  in  cedar  wood,  delicately 
carved.  The  shops  and  offices  of  the  best  class  of 


THE  MOROCCAN  CAPITAL  201 

Fez  merchants  surround  the  courtyard,  where  their 
business  is  carried  on,  and  caravans  of  camels  coming 
from  afar,  enter  the  grand  gateway  to  kneel  and  dis- 
charge their  loads  of  merchandise.  Nearby  in  a 
bazaar  the  cedar-wood  carpenters  ply  their  trade, 
making  the  whole  region  sweet  with  the  scent  of  the 
wood. 

A  little  farther  down  the  hill  is  El  Kairuin,  said 
to  be  the  largest  mosque  in  Africa  and  the  great 
University  of  Fez.  The  mosque,  excepting  for  size, 
is  not  specially  attractive,  but  this  was  the  famous 
University,  renowned  in  the  middle  ages  throughout 
Europe,  and  to  which  not  a  few  Christians  were  then 
sent  for  an  education.  Its  great  library,  however, 
has  almost  disappeared,  though  the  University  still 
educates  nearly  all  the  scholars  of  note  in  Morocco, 
who  pass  through  its  colleges  of  medicine,  divinity 
and  the  law.  Thus  Kairuin  issues  the  diplomas  to 
the  law  students  which  are  a  requisite  to  practice. 
Beyond,  and  lower  down  the  slope,  are  the  braziers' 
quarters,  and  the  street  of  the  dyers,  their  silken 
skeins  of  every  hue  hanging  in  the  sunshine,  while 
the  workmen  who  are  almost  as  gaudy  as  the  silks 
themselves,  stir  the  spacious  vats  of  seething  liquids, 
chiefly  blue  and  red.  This  makes  a  naturally  charm- 
ing street,  and  here  are  produced  the  brilliant  Fez 
caps  which  are  prominent  in  all  oriental  lands. 
Then  the  highway  goes  steeply  down  to  a  bridge 
crossing  the  river,  where  the  torrent  rushes  between 


202  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

rocky  walls,  surmounted  by  tall  houses,  and  turns 
many  a  little  mill-wheel  in  its  vigorous  descent.  On 
the  other  side  the  highway  again  mounts  the  hill 
among  more  shops,  and  a  district  of  dwellings.  Here 
at  an  elevation,  on  the  southern  river  bank,  is  the 
Andalus  mosque,  its  magnificent  gateway  towering 
high  above  the  flat  roofs  of  the  neighboring  houses. 
This  gateway  stands  boldly  at  the  upper  end  of  a 
street,  and  resembles  the  gateway  of  the  great  Cara- 
vansary, though  more  airy  and  delicate  in  decoration 
and  construction.  Higher  up  the  hill  are  the  fur- 
naces where  the  noted  Fez  decorative  tiles  are  made. 
This  tile-making  survives  as  effectively  as  in  the 
greatest  days  of  Moorish  power  and  constructive  skill. 
The  tiles  are  baked  in  monochrome  squares  from 
which  the  mosaics  are  chipped  out  by  hand  with  a 
small  sharp  hammer.  The  process  makes  a  number 
of  small  tiles  of  various  sizes  and  shapes,  cut  with  the 
most  exact  edges,  which  when  fitted  together  form 
the  exquisite  designs  of  the  dados,  floors  and  foun- 
tains of  the  Moorish  houses.  So  exact  are  surface, 
edge  and  color,  that  when  arranged  in  position  it  is 
almost  impossible  to  feel  or  see  the  division  between 
the  tiny  mosaics,  so  skilfully  is  the  work  done. 

Everywhere  in  Fez  is  the  sound  of  plashing  foun- 
tains and  running  waters,  the  special  solace  of  the 
Moors.  There  is  an  entire  district  of  the  most  deli- 
cious gardens  growing  lemons  and  oranges,  apricots 
and  pomegranates,  and  having  in  all  directions 


A  Garden  in  Morocco. 


CEUTA  AND  TETUAN  203 

diminutive  streams  passing  over  fern-covered  rocks, 
bubbling  in  the  fountain  basins,  and  making  the  air 
savory  with  the  moisture  and  perfume.  This  is  on 
the  higher  surface,  away  from  the  narrow  crowded 
streets  of  the  lower  town,  and  here  the  rich  Fez  mer- 
chants have  their  arbor-shaded  and  vine-embowered 
rural  homes.  Going  out  the  gates  and  up  on  the 
hills  overlooking  the  city,  the  visitor  gets  a  lovely 
view  of  the  winding  valley  that  encloses  the  long  and 
narrow  place,  with  its  glistening  white  roofs  and  bor- 
der of  groves  and  gardens,  looking  like  a  broad  streak 
of  white  embedded  in  a  border  of  the  most  vivid 
green.  High  on  the  summit  of  the  ridge,  north  of  the 
Bab  el  Gizet  gate,  where  are  the  ruins  of  the  tombs 
of  the  ancient  Beni  Merin  dynasty  who  ruled  Fez 
and  Morocco,  is  got  a  grand  view  over  the  deeply 
indented  valley  of  the  town,  as  it  slopes  toward  the 
wider  intervale  of  the  Seboo  to  the  eastward,  which 
can  be  traced  far  away  over  the  western  plateau  as 
it  carries  the  waters  of  the  Atlas  mountains  out  to  the 
distant  Atlantic. 

CEUTA   AND   TETTJAK-. 

The  beautiful  bay  of  Tangier  is  bordered  on  its 
eastern  side  by  the  protruding  headland  of  Cape 
Malabata.  Beyond,  the  coast  of  the  Gibraltar  Strait 
trends  northeastward  in  front  of  the  Sierra  Bullones, 
rising  into  the  African  Pillar  of  Hercules,  the 
Elephas  of  Strabo,  the  Jebel  Musa  of  the  Moors,  and 


204  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

the  Apes  Hill  of  the  English.  This  noble  peak 
towers  above  all  the  adjacent  heights,  its  truncated 
top  being  often  hid  in  clouds.  Farther  northeast- 
ward a  low  and  narrow  isthmus  terminates  in  Mount 
Acho,  about  four  miles  off,  its  extremity  being  the 
end  of  the  Gibraltar  Strait.  This  peninsula  jutting 
out  north-northeast,  is  almost  exactly  opposite  the 
Rock  of  Gibraltar,  and  upon  the  isthmus  is  the  town 
and  fortress  of  Ceuta,  a  Spanish  possession,  but  a 
very  ancient  settlement,  being  the  Roman  Septa,  and 
the  Moorish  Sebta.  Upon  Mount  Acho  is  its  cita- 
del, capable  of  sheltering  a  garrison  of  five  thousand 
men.  This  stronghold  has  a  Spanish  military  gov- 
ernor, and  is  the  chief  of  what  are  known  as  the 
Presidios,  the  five  Spanish  convict  establishments  on 
this  part  of  the  African  coast,  the  governor  of  Ceuta 
controlling  them  all.  These  settlements  have  a  popu- 
lation of  some  twelve  thousand  convicts,  and  are 
variously  located,  their  reservations  covering  over 
thirty-two  hundred  square  miles.  The  town  is  well 
built,  and  has  a  cathedral  and  several  convents,  but 
the  trade  is  restricted,  the  harbor  being  unsafe.  It 
was  from  Ceuta  that  the  Moors  under  Tarik  first 
crossed  over  the  Strait  to  invade  Spain,  and  in  1415, 
John  I  of  Portugal  captured  Ceuta  from  the  Moors, 
the  place  subsequently  passing  under  Spanish  con- 
trol. 

The  Moroccan  coast  trends  southward  from  Ceuta 
to  Cape  Negro,  while  beyond  is  Cape  Mozari,  the 


CEUTA  AND  TETUAN  205 

immediate  shore  between  these  headlands  being  low- 
lying,  and  giving  the  appearance  of  a  bay,  though  the 
indentation  is  only  slight.  Just  visible  from  the  sea, 
on  the  hill  slope,  with  an  environment  of  cliffs  and 
high  hills  inland,  is  Tetuan,  its  so-called  Bay  of 
Tetuan  in  front,  and  having  at  the  little  Hartil  river 
entrance  its  port  and  harbor  of  Marteen.  The  situ- 
ation is  picturesque.  The  bold  Riff  mountains, 
beginning  behind  the  town,  stretch  southward  along 
the  coast  for  nearly  two  hundred  miles,  and  Tetuan 
is  built  upon  the  slopes  of  an  outlying  spur  of  this 
range.  It  is  about  forty-four  miles  southeast,  over- 
land, from  Tangier,  and  the  usual  route  to  it  for 
visitors  is  by  a  horseback  or  muleback  journey  from 
that  city.  This  monotonous  ride  takes  all  day  and 
sometimes  more,  if  the  Moorish  military  guard  ac- 
companying the  party  (being  paid  by  the  day) 
persists  in  slow  walking.  When  some  fifteen  miles 
off,  the  procession  mounts  the  last  hill  which  borders 
the  broad  Tetuan  plain,  and  thus  is  got  far  away, 
the  first  view  of  this  beautiful  city,  its  walls,  towering 
minarets  and  dazzlingly  white  houses  being  seen 
ahead,  high  on  the  ridge,  and  overhung  by  the  en- 
vironment of  precipitous  mountains.  Upon  the  sum- 
mit of  the  hill  on  which  the  city  rests  is  the  castle 
where  the  governor  resides,  and  to  the  southward  the 
surface  rises  into  a  ridge  elevated  three  thousand 
feet  above  the  sea.  Upon  nearer  approach,  the  place 
is  found  to  be  surrounded  by  walls,  flanked  with 


206  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

towers  and  defended  by  the  castle.  This  is  the 
Moorish  Tettawin,  said  to  have  been  founded  in 
1492  by  refugees  expelled  from  Granada  by  the 
Spaniards.  The  high  society  of  Tetuan  are  the  de- 
scendants of  these  refugees,  proud  of  their  pedigree, 
and  some  of  them  still  hoping  to  ultimately  return 
to  their  original  family  abode,  so  much  so  that  they 
yet  preserve  as  heirlooms  the  title  deeds  and  keys  of 
the  old  Granadan  homes  on  the  Jenil.  Tetuan  was 
briefly  in  English  possession,  when  it  was  part  of  the 
dowry  of  Catherine  of  Braganza,  the  Portuguese 
queen  of  Charles  II,  but  it  was  subsequently  given 
back  to  the  Moors  who  held  it  continuously  until 
taken  by  storm  by  Marshal  O'Donnell,  in  1860,  for 
which  achievement  Spain  made  him  Duke  of  Tetuan, 
but  they  too  gave  it  back  to  Morocco  when  peace  came 
in  the  following  year.  There  are  about  twenty-five 
thousand  people  in  Tetuan,  including  a  considerable 
number  of  Spaniards.  There  are  forty  mosques, 
several  being  fine  structures,  but  the  streets  are  nar- 
row and  dirty.  The  harbor  is  poor,  being  an  open 
roadstead,  unprotected  toward  the  east,  whence  comes 
the  full  rush  of  the  Mediterranean  waves,  it  being  on 
the  western  verge  of  the  great  sea.  Only  small  ves- 
sels can  enter,  and  thus  traffic  by  water  is  restricted, 
being  chiefly  supplying  provisions  to  Gibraltar.  It 
has,  however,  a  lucrative  caravan  trade  with  Tangier, 
and  inland  to  Fez  and  beyond.  There  are  also  man- 
ufactures of  leather  and  firearms,  with  swords  and 


THE  RIFFS  207 

daggers.  The  Tetuan  market-place  displays  the  cus- 
tomary oriental  features  —  groups  of  squatting 
camels  attended  by  villainous  looking  Riffs  in  dirty 
embroidered  robes;  donkeys  loaded  with  vegetables, 
throngs  of  dignified  Moors,  stalwart  negroes,  half- 
naked  children,  with  the  inevitable  snake-charmer, 
story-teller  and  juggler,  the  money-changer  and  fruit 
huckster,  but  the  men  far  outnumber  the  women  in 
the  crowds.  There  are  quaint  booths  and  covered 
ways  in  the  Tetuan  bazaar,  where  curios  may  be 
found  that  were  not  made  in  civilized  lands,  and 
profuse  supplies  are  offered  of  the  interesting  Morocco 
goods  of  the  natives.  Tetuan  is  an  admirable  winter 
resort,  the  mild  climate  being  attractive,  and  its 
picturesque  environment  and  pure  oriental  flavor  are 
specially  appealing  to  artists. 


THE    EIFFS. 


Morocco  has  neither  railways  nor  telegraphs,  and 
its  roads  are  very  poor,  being  mainly  caravan  tracks 
on  the  chiefly  travelled  interior  routes,  and  wayward 
mule  paths  that  have  been  used  for  centuries  and 
never  improved.  Thus  the  methods  of  transportation 
are  thoroughly  primitive,  and  are  not  much  better 
now  than  when  the  Arabs  came  along  as  conquerors 
under  the  great  Sidi  Okba,  in  the  days  immediately 
succeeding  the  death  of  Mohammed.  ]STor  were  the 
habits  of  the  nomadic  tribes  much  changed  dur- 
ing the  centuries  of  Moorish  rule,  for  Morocco 


208  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

gives    the    great    powers    of    the    world    constant 
trouble  on  account  of  lawlessness   and  brigandage. 
Beyond  Tetuan,  at  first  southward,  and  then  curv- 
ing around  to  the  eastward  the  coast  of  Morocco, 
toward    the    Mediterranean,    presents    all    the    way 
to  the  Algerian  boundary  the  rugged  profile  of  the 
Riff    mountains,    still    largely    unexplored,    which 
generally    terminate    in    lines    of    cliffs,    broken    at 
intervals  by  narrow  sweeps  of  sandy  beach,  but  oc- 
casionally by  open  vistas  of  beautiful  and  fertile 
valleys,  with  evidence  of  tillage  and  good  cultivation. 
Upon  this  coast,  after  it  curves  to  the  eastward,  is  the 
Spanish  fortress  crowning  the  rocky  island  of  Penon 
de  Velez,  one  of  the  penal  settlements,  while  inland, 
in  the  valley  off  which  it  mounts  guard,  was  the 
Arab  town  of  Badis,  or  Velez  de  Gomera,  as  it  was 
called  down  to  the  sixteenth  century.     Farther  east- 
ward   is    another    Spanish   presidio,    occupying   Al 
Mazemma,  the  larger  of  the  group   of  Alhucemas 
islands,  in  the  fine  semicircular  bay  of  that  name, 
which  is  at  the  seaward  end  of  one  of  the  most 
beautiful  valleys  in  the  Riff,  clothed  by  verdure  and 
dotted  with  hamlets.     These  islands  were  the   Ad 
Sex  Insulas  of  the  Romans.     Beyond,  projects  the 
bold  and  rocky  peninsula  which  has  on  its  eastern  side 
the  fortified  town  and  presidio  of  Melilla,  held  by 
the  Spaniards  since  1653,  having  on  the  heights  be- 
hind, its  chief  defensive  work,  Fort  Rosario.     Still 
farther  eastward  are  lakes  and  salt  marshes,  the  low 


THE  RIFFS  209 

and  sandy  shore  stretching  a  long  distance  to  Cape 
dal  Agua.  Out  in  front  is  jet  another  group  of  is- 
lands, dry  and  barren,  which  were  the  Roman  Ad 
Tres  Insulas,  and  are  now  known  as  the  Zafarines, 
their  name  being  derived  from  the  Beni  Jafar,  an 
Arab  tribe  occupying  the  adjacent  mainland  from  the 
time  of  the  conquest.  These  islands  belong  to  Spain, 
also  being  used  for  a  presidio,  and  their  protective 
barriers  form  the  best  roadstead  upon  the  Riff  coast. 
About  two  miles  eastward  the  great  river  Muluya 
flows  out  to  the  sea,  and  a  short  distance  beyond  is 
the  Algerian  boundary. 

The  nomadic  dwellers  along  these  Riff  hills  are 
among  the  worst  tribes  of  Morocco  for  lawlessness  and 
savagery  on  land,  and  piracy  and  wreckage  on  the 
sea.  In  fact  these  Anjeras  are  said  to  commit  every 
atrocity  of  aboriginal  Africans,  excepting  cannibal- 
ism. Their  mountain  fastnesses  are  practically  un- 
explored, and  although  Melilla  is  right  in  front  of 
them,  its  Spanish  possessors  have  never  been  able  to 
control  these  tribes,  and  are  forced  to  maintain  as 
strict  guard  against  them  as  when  first  conquering  the 
port  in  the  seventeenth  century.  The  Spanish  pos- 
sessions extend  but  a  short  distance  inland,  and  there 
the  frontier  is  marked  by  a  line  of  whitewashed 
stones,  and  a  popular  pastime  of  the  Riff  has  been 
to  hide  near  this  boundary  and  shoot  at  any  Spaniard 
that  may  cross  it.  Occasionally  Spain  has  sent  an 
expedition  into  the  mountains  to  punish  the  lawless, 
VOL.  1—14 


210  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

but  they  are  not  to  be  conquered.  Neither  do  the 
Riff  tribes  pay  tribute  to  the  Sultan  of  Morocco,  and 
if  he  attempted  to  send  his  toll-gatherers  into  the 
mountains  they  would  be  massacred.  The  main  Riff 
industry,  so  far  as  the  outside  world  knows  it,  is  the 
practice  of  brigandage,  and  the  wreckage  of  luckless 
vessels  that  come  on  the  coast,  the  currents  out  of  the 
strait  being  so  strong  that  they  are  easily  cast  upon 
sunken  reefs.  The  captured  crews  are  often  slaugh- 
tered without  chance  of  ransom.  Once  in  a  while 
these  crimes  are  disclosed,  and  then  a  gunboat  may  be 
sent  to  shell  the  lairs  of  the  mountain  pirates  and 
force  surrender  of  booty,  and  if  possible  of  prisoners. 
Quick  action  of  this  kind  has  saved  some  crews,  who 
have  been  put  on  bare  rocks  far  from  the  shore  to  be 
taken  off  by  the  rescuers.  There  are  beautiful  val- 
leys and  pretty  coves  coming  out  on  these  shores  in- 
dented between  superb  headlands,  where  the  wreckers 
draw  up  their  canoes.  These  boats  are  painted  green, 
the  better  to  enable  the  pirates  to  sail  unseen  over 
the  bright  green  waters. 

The  Marquis  de  Segouzac,  who  some  time  ago 
ventured  among  these  people,  and  has  told  us  much 
that  we  now  know  of  them,  had  to  go  there  disguised 
as  a  nomad.  His  hair  was  shaven,  all  but  a  small 
tuft,  which  the  Riff  wears  on  the  top  of  his  head,  the 
easier  to  be  pulled  into  Paradise.  A  short  tunic 
fastened  at  the  waist  by  a  belt,  was  worn,  his  legs 
being  bare  and  his  feet  sandalled.  His  turban  was 


THE  RIFFS  211 

made  of  leather  thongs,  the  sandals  woven  of  alfalfa 
grass,  and  the  tunic  striped  brown  and  black.  The 
Marquis  spent  about  six  weeks  in  these  mountains, 
and  then  made  his  way  out,  going  to  Fez,  where  the 
French  consul  received  him  as  a  real  Riff.  He  told 
of  the  food  of  the  tribes,  which  is  mostly  honey  used 
in  many  ways;  and  of  their  utensils  that  are  in 
similar  forms  with  those  found  in  Egyptian  and  old 
Afro-Roman  cities.  Their  dwelling  places  are  built 
upon  most  inaccessible  spurs  of  the  mountains,  con- 
structed of  rock,  and  much  like  caves  and  tunnels. 
These  coverts  are  ancient,  having  been  used  for  many 
generations.  The  men  are  big,  and  owing  to  their 
repeated  forays  and  captures,  each  soldier  is  liberally 
supplied  with  rifles,  swords,  daggers  and  pistols.  As 
man-hunting  is  a  popular  occupation,  the  Marquis 
says  the  Riff  women  disdain  a  warrior  who  has  not 
slain  a  foe  or  captive,  these  ladies  taking  active  part 
with  their  husbands  in  all  the  fights,  serving  as 
skirmishers,  defending  the  forlorn  hope,  and  helping 
the  wounded,  while  if  a  Riff  shows  any  backwardness 
in  combat  they  ridicule  and  sometimes  even  maltreat 
him.  Their  last  and  final  expression  of  contempt 
and  derision  is  shown  by  tying  wisps  of  straw  to  the 
tail  of  the  coward's  horse.  The  ambition  of  each 
Riff  warrior  is  said  to  be  the  possession  of  three 
wives,  their  proverb  being :  "  Two  wives  in  one 
house  is  hell;  three  are  paradise."  But  they  mis- 
trust each  other,  so  universal  is  the  desire  for  com- 


212  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

bat  and  pillage.  The  lone  traveller  is  usually 
waylaid  and  robbed,  even  the  women  joining  in  this, 
so  they  generally  will  not  travel  excepting  in  cara- 
vans, and  these  take  them  and  the  multitude  of 
beggars  to  new  fields  for  foray  and  plunder.  Such 
is  one  of  the  Moroccan  races,  existing  now  as  for  over 
a  thousand  years,  and  which  the  world  as  yet  is  un- 
able to  civilize. 

In  the  summer  of  1909  the  Riff  tribes  attacked  the 
Spaniards  at  Melilla  with  such  vigor  that  for  a  while 
it  looked  as  if  the  fortress  might  fall.  The  efforts  of 
the  Spanish  government  to  recruit  troops  for  its  rein- 
forcement were  the  cause  of  the  riotous  outbreaks  at 
Barcelona  which  for  a  time  were  so  portentous. 
There  are  valuable  iron  and  lead  mines  among  the 
Riff  hills,  and  when  El  Roghi  was  in  power  there, 
he  sold  concessions  to  work  these  mines  and  thus 
amassed  his  large  fortune,  but  his  downfall  clouded 
the  Spanish  titles  and  made  disputes,  that  on  July  9 
caused  an  outbreak  in  which  four  Spanish  workmen 
were  killed.  The  commandant  at  Melilla  sent  out 
troops  to  punish  the  murderers,  and  this  was  the  sig- 
nal for  assembling  all  the  wild  tribes  of  the  region 
who  attacked  the  fortress  July  18,  when  its  garrison 
was  about  8,000  men.  By  occupying  the  caves  and 
slopes  of  Gurogu  mountain,  which  rises  to  an  elevation 
of  3,000  feet,  a  short  distance  southeast  of  the  town, 
the  Moors  got  into  such  strong  position  they  could 
not  be  dislodged,  For  two  weeks  fighting  continued 


ALGERIA  213 

with  heavy  loss  on  both  sides,  when  reinforcements 
hurried  from  Spain  became  available.  The  entire 
Spanish  navy  —  one  battleship  and  nine  cruisers  — 
came  to  the  harbor  and  coast,  the  warships  shelling 
the  villages  and  haunts  of  the  Riff  tribes,  causing 
much  havoc,  while  the  military  force  was  enlarged  to 
38,000  men.  Late  in  August  this  army  managed 
to  turn  the  Riffian  position  on  Mount  Gurogu  and 
thus  got  the  upper  hand.  This  was  not  accomplished, 
however,  without  severe  fighting.  Later,  through  the 
adoption  of  a  more  conciliatory  policy  hostilities 
were  suspended,  and  while  a  strong  garrison  still  oc- 
cupies Melilla  and  its  outposts,  and  the  spirit  of 
unrest  continues,  active  hostilities  ceased.  The  dis- 
turbed conditions  all  about  Morocco  keep  European 
diplomatists  constantly  on  the  alert  to  prevent 
a  general  embroilment  that  might  involve  the  great 
powers. 

ALGERIA. 

The  French  province  of  Algeria  adjoins  Morocco 
on  the  eastward,  extending  about  five  hundred  and 
fifty  miles  along  the  Mediterranean  coast,  and  pos- 
sibly four  hundred  miles  inland,  the  southern  bound- 
ary not  being  accurately  determined,  as,  like  Morocco, 
it  fades  indefinitely  into  the  great  Sahara.  Ihe 
region  adjoining  Morocco  is  the  Algerian  province 
of  Oran,  stretching  practically  from  the  Muluya 
river,  about  one  hundred  and  eighty  miles  eastward 
along  the  coast  to  the  mouth  of  the  river  Shelliff. 


214  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

Into  this  province  the  Riff  hills  come  some  distance 
beyond  the  border,  and  fade  gradually  away,  and  it 
extends  south  from  the  sea  to  the  Atlas  mountain 
range,  being  also  traversed  by  various  ridges  of  the 
Little  Atlas.  A  large  part  of  the  surface  is  forest, 
and  the  soil  where  cultivated  is  mostly  fertile,  and 
it  has  a  considerable  Spanish  population,  increasing 
by  immigration.  There  flows  out  of  the  hills  a  small 
stream  called  the  Wad-el-Rakhi,  at  the  foot  of  the 
peak  of  St.  Croix,  into  Oran  bay,  and  on  the  river 
banks  is  Oran  city,  with  about  fifty  thousand  people. 
The  town,  now  under  French  control,  is  well  fortified, 
and  in  general  substantially  built.  This  settlement 
was  long  a  subject  of  contention  between  the  Moors 
and  Spaniards,  and  the  latter,  under  Cardinal 
Ximenes,  took  it  in  1509,  retaining  it  until  the  early 
eighteenth  century,  when  the  Algerians  expelled 
them.  The  Spaniards  regained  possession  in  1732, 
but  subsequently  gave  up  the  town.  It  has  no  good 
anchorage  immediately  at  the  city,  but  the  large 
harbor  of  Mars-el-Kebir  is  three  miles  distant,  and 
defended  by  a  castle  which  the  Spaniards  then  re- 
tained. The  French  when  they  conquered  Algeria, 
got  control  of  Oran  in  1831.  The  city  has  a  castle 
and  an  arsenal,  a  hospital  and  two  good  churches, 
one  built  by  the  Spaniards  in  the  time  of  Charles  V, 
and  the  other  formerly  a  mosque.  There  are  few 
other  attractions,  and  much  of  the  surrounding  coun- 
try is  arid  and  barren. 


ALGERIA  215 

The  general  aspect  of  the  Province  of  Algeria  from 
the  Mediterranean  coast  back  to  the  Little  Atlas 
range  is  a  surface  rising  in  various  smaller  ranges 
like  so  many  ascending  steps,  while  the  Little  Atlas 
itself  does  not  reach  much  elevation  comparatively. 
Behind  it,  however,  the  Greater  Atlas  system,  border- 
ing the  Sahara,  rises  in  summits,  some  of  which  reach 
7,000  feet.  A  railway  has  been  constructed  into 
this  region,  southwestward  from  Oran  to  Tlemcen, 
the  Roman  Pomaria,  about  seventy  miles,  this  being 
the  great  French  fortress  controlling  the  Moroccan 
frontier  of  Algeria.  It  is  an  ancient  city  in  a  most 
picturesque  situation,  about  thirty  miles  south  of  the 
Mediterranean.  Built  on  the  mountain  slope  ad- 
joining a  valley  at  about  two  thousand  feet  elevation, 
there  are  large  mountains  rising  behind  it,  while 
in  front  spreads  the  beautiful  and  fertile  valley,  its 
orchards  and  grain  fields  extending  as  far  as  the  eye 
can  see,  until  lost  in  the  hills  at  the  horizon.  It  was 
originally  called  Jidkoh,  and  for  several  centuries 
had  a  population  of  over  one  hundred  thousand,  when 
it  was  an  independent  state  under  Arab  rulers.  It 
fell  to  the  Turks  in  the  sixteenth  century  and  they 
gave  it  to  the  Dey  of  Algiers,  but  in  1670  the  people 
revolted  and  the  city  was  burned.  The  French  cap- 
tured it  in  1842,  and  have  since  greatly  strengthened 
the  fortifications,  there  being  about  twenty-five 
thousand  population  and  a  large  French  garrison, 
while  the  recent  development  of  the  place  has  been 


216  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

in  the  construction  of  many  modern  French  build- 
ings. It  is  an  ancient  walled  town,  with  citadel  and 
elaborate  towered  gates.  The  citadel  is  now  the  bar- 
rack and  hospital  for  the  troops,  and  the  minaret  of 
its  mosque,  ninety  feet  high,  overlooks  the  rest  of  the 
city.  It  was  within  this  citadel,  on  a  gallery  paved 
with  marble  and  onyx,  there  stood  a  famous  tree  of 
solid  silver,  on  which  were  many  rare  singing  birds  of 
gold  and  silver,  whose  warblings  were  attuned  by  in- 
genious mechanisms.  Tlemcen  had  seventy  mosques 
in  its  day  of  greatest  splendor  and  now  there  are 
over  thirty.  The  Jami-el-Kebir  built  in  the  twelfth 
century  covers  an  acre,  and  is  the  chief  mosque  of 
Tlemcen.  The  mosque  of  Sidi  Bon  Medin  has 
splendid  bronze  doors,  rare  decorations  in  Moorish 
lacework  and  mosaic  flooring,  being  some  distance 
outside  the  walls,  where  it  was  built  at  the  tomb  of 
the  saint,  who  was  a  noted  Arab  scholar  in  the 
twelfth  century  and  a  learned  expounder  of  the 
Koran. 

When  Tlemcen  was  in  the  height  of  its  glory  it  was 
attacked  and  besieged  by  a  rival  Arab  chieftain, 
Abou  Yakub,  who  conducted  his  siege  for  seven  years 
before  he  succeeded,  and  he  built  on  the  valley  plain 
his  fortified  camp  and  city  about  three  miles  away. 
This  is  Mansoura,  interesting  though  a  ruin,  and 
which  for  a  long  period  was  a  rival  of  Tlemcen.  Its 
fortified  walls  enclosed  about  three  hundred  acres, 
and  its  mosque  with  a  minaret  tower  rising  a  hundred 


ALGERIA  217 

and  thirty  feet  was  a  splendid  structure.  The 
mosque  is  in  ruins,  but  the  tower  well  preserved  with 
its  green  porcelain  tiling.  Much  of  the  old  walls 
remain,  but  a  large  portion  are  crumbling  and  most 
of  the  original  city  enclosure  is  now  a  rich  vineyard, 
the  vines  bearing  large  white  grapes  and  running 
up  the  walls  and  spreading  around  the  base  of  the 
tower.  Abou  Yakub  did  not  live  to  enjoy  his  vic- 
tory, for  he  was  assassinated  just  about  the  time 
Tlemcen  surrendered.  Kow,  the  ruins  of  Mansoura 
show  that  Tlemcen  ultimately  and  in  reality  con- 
quered, and  the  French  who  hold  it  and  have  made 
it  a  miniature  Paris,  as  well  as  a  fortress,  are  sure 
they  will  in  time  become  the  masters  of  all  north- 
western Africa.  Already  the  unrest  of  the  Moroccan 
tribes  gave  them  the  chance  in  the  spring  of  1907 
to  march  over  the  boundary  and  occupy  Ujda,  which 
is  on  the  eastern  plain  bordering  the  great  Muluya 
river,  an  important  port  where  they  held  the  Pre- 
tender Bu  Hamera  in  check. 

The  maritime  region  of  Algeria,  eastward  of  Oran, 
has  numerous  narrow  valleys,  each  carrying  down  to 
the  sea  its  mountain  stream.  In  some  places  the 
hills  rise  abruptly  from  the  Mediterranean  shore, 
while  in  others,  tracts  of  lowlands  intervene  near 
the  coast,  the  surface  being  mostly  marshy,  but  with 
portions  that  are  fertile  and  well  cultivated.  The 
Bay  of  Algiers  is  about  in  the  centre  of  the  Algerine 
coast,  and  upon  its  eastern  side  is  one  of  the  most 


218  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

extensive  of  the  fertile  plains,  the  Metidja,  stretch- 
ing inland,  south  and  west,  for  about  sixty  miles, 
with  a  breadth  of  ten  to  twelve  miles.  As  much  of 
the  Algerine  coast  is  steep  and  rocky,  abounding  in 
capes  and  reefs,  it  is  deficient  in  good  harbors,  and 
even  in  secure  roadsteads,  all  being  exposed  to  the 
strong  north  and  northeast  winds  crossing  the  Med- 
iterranean. The  Algerine  rivers  are  numerous  but 
small,  being  usually  torrents  rushing  down  short 
courses,  through  deeply  worn  and  rocky  channels 
from  the  mountains  to  the  sea,  and  greatly  swollen 
in  the  winter  rainy  season.  The  most  important  of 
these  rivers  is  the  Shellif.  To  the  northeastward 
of  Oran  is  a  deeply  indented  bay  having  Cape  Ivi 
as  its  eastern  boundary,  and  within  the  cape  the  town 
of  Mostaganem.  Here  the  Shellif  flows  into  the 
Mediterranean,  coming  from  the  eastward  among 
the  mountain  ranges,  its  course  being  some  three 
hundred  and  seventy  miles.  Much  of  the  marshy 
surfaces,  especially  near  the  larger  towns,  have  been 
drained  since  the  French  occupation,  making  the 
climate  more  healthy,  and  the  fertile  land  which  is 
well  cultivated,  is  almost  all  near  the  sea.  Farther 
inland,  the  country  is  largely  a  pasture  land,  though 
growing  fruits.  There  is  still  a  Dey  in  Algiers,  who 
nominally  governs  the  Turkish  and  Arab  tribes, 
while  the  French  hold  the  civil  government.  To 
conquer  and  keep  this  peculiar  country  and  its  no- 
madic peoples  have  cost  the  French  dearly,  and  down 


ALGERIA  219 

to  1864,  according  to  a  Ministerial  statement  made 
in  the  French  Assembly  at  Paris,  Algeria  had  re- 
quired an  expenditure  of  $600,000,000  French 
money  and  150,000  lives,  while  a  French  army  of 
60,000  men  is  maintained  in  the  Province. 

This  noted  region  has  been  fought  for  during 
many  centuries.  It  was  long  held  by  Carthage, 
after  the  original  Phoenician  settlement,  and  the 
Romans  got  possession  when  they  defeated  Hannibal, 
placing  it  under  a  native  ruler  who  was  entitled  King 
of  Numidia.  Julius  Csesar  made  it  a  Roman 
province,  and  in  the  fifth  century  the  Vandals  drove 
the  Romans  out,  they  in  turn  being  expelled  in  533  by 
the  Emperor  Justinian's  general  Belisarius.  The 
Saracens  in  their  wonderful  western  conquests  after 
the  death  of  Mohammed  made  themselves  the  masters 
in  the  middle  of  the  seventh  century,  but  afterward 
the  region  divided  into  a  number  of  tribal  states 
under  various  petty  chiefs,  and  relapsed  into  bar- 
barism. Then  followed  the  powerful  Moorish 
Almoravides  dynasty  in  the  eleventh  century,  who 
for  several  successive  generations  ruled  all  Barbary, 
and  most  of  Spain,  being  succeeded  by  other  Moorish 
chiefs,  and  then  it  was  again  cut  up  into  petty  states. 
Ferdinand  of  Spain  captured  Algiers  in  1505,  hold- 
ing it  until  his  death,  when  the  Moors,  as  heretofore 
told,  invited  the  pirate  Arudj  Barbarossa  to  come 
and  aid  them,  establishing  the  system  of  piracy  which 
continued  until  the  French  occupation  in  1830. 


220  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

After  the  Spaniards  had  captured  and  beheaded 
Arudj,  his  brother  Khair-ed-Din  became  the  Pasha, 
and  ultimately  by  Turkish  aid  drove  out  the  Span- 
iards. He  strongly  fortified  Algiers  and  built  a 
mole  to  protect  the  harbor,  employing  thirty 
thousand  Christian  captives  for  three  years  in  this 
work.  Then  the  Algerian  pirates  with  their  fortified 
stronghold  became  the  dreaded  scourge  of  all  nations. 
Then  Pope  Paul  III  persuaded  Charles  V  to  under- 
take an  expedition  against  them,  issuing  a  bull,  offer- 
ing full  remission  of  sins  and  a  crown  of  martyrdom 
to  all  who  either  fell  in  battle  or  were  captured  and 
made  slaves.  Charles  sailed  against  Algiers  with 
twenty  galleys,  one  hundred  and  twenty  ships,  and 
thirty  thousand  chosen  men.  They  landed  on  the 
coast,  and  were  proceeding  to  invest  and  attack  the 
city,  when  a  terrible  storm  came,  and  on  the  night 
of  October  28,  1541,  destroyed  fifteen  galleys  and 
eighty-six  ships  with  their  crews  and  stores,  so  that 
the  army  on  shore  was  deprived  of  subsistence.  It 
was  soon  fallen  upon  by  the  Algerines,  killing  many 
and  taking  a  large  number  of  prisoners,  Charles 
himself  and  the  remnant  of  his  defeated  forces  es- 
caping with  difficulty. 

The  Turkish  power  ruled  Algiers  until  the  seven- 
teenth century,  being  reinforced  by  many  of  the 
Moors  expelled  from  Spain,  who  flocked  hither  in 
large  numbers,  and  being  expert  sailors  they  greatly 
strengthened  the  Algerine  fleet.  Their  piracies  be- 


ALGERIA  221 

came  so  audacious  that  in  the  seventeenth  century  all 
the  European  nations,  one  after  another,  attacked 
them  —  the  French,  English,  Venetians  and  others 
—  destroying  part  of  their-  fleets.  In  1682,  Louis 
XIV  sent  a  French  army  which  bombarded  and  burnt 
Algiers,  but  it  was  not  until  the  English  held  Gibral- 
tar that  they  were  again  got  under  partial  control. 
In  the  eighteenth  century  the  policy  of  paying 
tribute  checked  the  piracies,  but  the  cruelties  prac- 
tised upon  Christian  slaves  and  the  faithlessness  of 
the  pirates  provoked  the  United  States  to  the  attack 
and  capture  of  Algiers  in  1815.  This  was  done  by 
the  fleet  of  Commodore  Decatur,  who  sailed  into  the 
harbor  in  June,  and  sent  the  message  to  the  Dey, 
demanding  the  release  of  all  Americans  held  in 
captivity.  The  Dey  replied  that  he  would  liberate 
the  captives  in  exchange  for  a  tribute  which  included 
gunpowder.  To  this  the  Commodore  promptly 
answered  that  "  If  the  Dey  wants  powder  he  must 
take  the  balls  with  it."  The  bombardment  began 
and  quickly  the  prisoners  were  released  without  tri- 
bute. This  was  followed  by  the  British  expedition 
of  1816,  which  destroyed  the  Algerine  fleet  and 
liberated  all  the  slaves,  when  the  pledge  was  made 
that  piracy  and  slavery  should  cease  forever.  The. 
treaty  was  broken  as  usual,  however,  and  again  the 
Algerines  defied  the  world.  Ultimately  a  dispute 
arose  about  a  debt,  and  in  the  discussion  the  Dey  of 
Algiers  publicly  struck  the  French  Consul  in  the 


222  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

face,  an  insult  which  prompted  the  French  expedi- 
tion of  1830.  It  landed  on  the  coast,  defeated  the 
Algerine  army,  bombarded  and  captured  Algiers, 
which  surrendered  on  July  4th.  The  Turkish  troops 
then  left  the  country  and  the  Dey  and  his  retinue 
went  to  Naples.  Subsequently,  with  the  English 
acquiescence,  Algeria  was  made  a  colony  of  France, 
but  the  native  tribes  did  not  submit,  and  a  long, 
desultory  and  most  destructive  war  ensued.  It  was 
about  this  time  that  the  famous  Abd-el-Kader,  who 
was  born  in  1807,  appeared  upon  the  scene.  Placing 
himself  at  the  head  of  the  Arab  tribes,  he  conducted 
his  campaign  with  such  skill  that  he  was  recognized 
by  the  French  in  1834  in  a  treaty  made  with  him  as 
the  Emir  of  Massara  Province.  More  conflicts  fol- 
lowed, and  another  treaty  in  1837,  but  again  the 
war  was  renewed,  the  French  placing  one  hundred 
thousand  men  in  the  field.  Twice,  when  pursued, 
Abd-el-Kader  crossed  the  border  into  Morocco,  and  got 
that  country  embroiled  with  France.  The  war  con- 
tinued until  1848,  when,  beaten  on  all  sides,  Abd-el- 
Kader  surrendered  to  the  French  and  was  imprisoned 
in  France  at  first  at  Pau,  and  afterward  at  Amboise. 
In  1852  he  was  liberated  and  went  to  Asia  Minor  and 
ultimately  to  Arabia,  dying  at  Mecca  in  1873.  After 
his  capture  there  were  frequent  disturbances,  until 
the  French  civil  government  was  established  in  1871, 
with  a  large  standing  army,  but  while  it  has  been  a 
costly  process,  France  has  since  managed  to  rule 


THE  AFRICAN  PARIS  223 

Algiers  with  only  occasional  rebellions.  The  popula- 
tion of  this  leading  colony  of  France  is  about 
5,000,000. 

THE  AFRICAN  PABIS. 

When  the  French  got  full  possession  of  Algiers 
they  created  out  of  the  old  piratical  town  a  sumptuous 
resort  upon  the  edge  of  the  Mediterranean,  which 
came  into  fame  among  travellers  as  the  "  African 
Paris."  Between  the  bold  projecting  Capes  Caxine 
and  Malifan  is  indented  the  beautiful  harbor,  en- 
circled by  an  amphitheatre  of  high  hills  in  a  most 
delightful  situation.  The  first  view,  on  the  approach 
from  the  sea,  is  most  picturesque.  In  the  front  of 
the  city  is  the  superb  new  Boulevard  de  la  Repub- 
lique,  extending  along  the  shore  and  bordered  by 
stately  buildings  of  Parisian  style.  Towering  over 
this  newer  town,  the  older  Algiers  of  narrow  and 
steep  streets  rises  tier  above  tier  upon  the  hill 
slopes,  to  the  crowning  citadel,  the  Kasbah.  The 
white  stone  arcaded  walls  supporting  the  Boulevard, 
having  above  the  cluster  of  white  houses,  stand  out 
in  strong  relief  against  the  background  of  dark  green 
wooded  hills,  and  as  the  Arabic  description  tells  us, 
they  glisten  in  the  sun  like  "  diamonds  set  in 
emeralds."  Thus  this  beautiful  city  has  a  special 
charm  in  the  first  view,  for  those  who  seek  it  as  a 
winter  resort.  It  is  the  Al  Jezireh  of  the  Arabs, 
meaning  "  the  island  "  because  originally  there  was 


224  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

an  island  in  front  of  the  town,  which  was  joined  to 
it  by  a  mole.  The  city  is  built  in  the  form  of  an 
amphitheatre,  on  the  western  shore  of  Algiers  bay, 
mainly  occupying  the  northern  slope  of  an  abruptly 
rising  hill,  which  it  ascends  somewhat  in  the  form 
of  an  irregular  triangle,  the  apex  being  the  Kasbah, 
the  ancient  fortress  of  the  Deys,  elevated  about  five 
hundred  feet  above  the  water.  Everything  is  built 
of  white  stone,  and  seen  from  a  distance,  its  strik- 
ingly beautiful  appearance  has  been  compared  to  an 
old  time  ship  under  full  sail.  The  ancient  walls 
have  been  demolished,  and  the  present  defence,  which 
is  very  strong  toward  the  sea,  also  has  been  recently 
strengthened  on  the  landward  side  by  a  line  of  forts 
occupying  the  edge  of  Mount  Busmea  at  over  thirteen 
hundred  feet  elevation.  The  enclosed  port  has  been 
much  improved  and  the  harbor  protective  jetties  ex- 
tended, the  guiding  lighthouse  having  a  revolving 
light  visible  fifteen  miles  at  sea.  The  regular 
service  of  steamers  to  France  is  across  the  Mediter- 
ranean northward  to  Marseilles,  about  five  hundred 
miles  away. 

The  newer  French  town,  on  the  lower  slopes  along 
the  shore,  has  impressive  streets  and  squares  and  quite 
a  Parisian  aspect,  with  the  Place  du  Government  in 
the  centre,  a  large  and  handsome  square,  planted 
with  orange  and  lime  trees  and  having  a  central 
fountain.  Here  is  the  Government  House.  All 
the  modern  streets  are  spacious,  and  the  buildings 


THE  AFRICAN  PARIS  225 

are  adorned  with  arcades,  a  protection  against  both 
the  hot  suns  and  rains.  The  old  town,  occupying 
the  higher  slopes,  is  entirely  oriental,  with  the 
usual  narrow,  winding  and  dirty  streets  and  Moorish 
houses,  square  and  substantial  looking  buildings, 
presenting  to  the  street  the  bare  walls,  and  having 
only  a  few  narrow  slits,  protected  by  iron  gratings, 
in  place  of  windows.  Each  house  has  an  interior 
quadrangular  open  court,  entered  by  a  low  and  nar- 
row doorway.  Upon  this  court  all  the  rooms  open. 
The  Moor  is  in  constant  evidence,  but  there  is  a 
cosmopolitan  mixture  of  peoples,  including  many 
French  Chasseurs  and  Zouaves.  In  these  ancient 
streets,  usually  only  from  five  to  a  dozen  feet  wide, 
the  Moors  abound,  and  in  the  deep  fissures  which 
these  passageways  make  between  the  high  and  sombre 
house  walls,  the  odors  are  not  always  the  latest 
French  perfumes.  There  are  not  many  attractive 
buildings.  Visitors  may  occasionally  venture  bare- 
footed into  the  Grand  Mosque,  the  Djama  Kebir,  a 
plain  building  fronted  by  a  row  of  white  marble 
columns,  where  the  beautiful  courtyard  is  sur- 
rounded by  arcaded  galleries  supported  on  elabo- 
rately carved  marble  columns.  Its  central  fountain 
is  generally  the  focus  of  a  crowd  of  the  faithful, 
performing  their  ablutions  preliminary  to  worship. 
Near  by  is  the  Jardin  Marengo,  the  most  attractive 
public  square  of  the  city,  having  a  fine  outlook  over 

the  sea  and  adjacent  shores  and  hills,  and  adorned 
VOL.  1—15 


226  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

by  a  column  in  memory  of  Napoleon  which  is  in- 
scribed with  his  victories.  Just  above  this  pleasant 
square  in  a  picturesque  location  is  another  mosque, 
consecrated  to  the  Moslem  Saint  Sidi  Abd-er-Rah- 
man,  and  having  his  tomb  which  is  a  great  place 
of  pilgrimage.  It  is  also  the  sepulchre  of  several 
of  the  Deys.  This  mosque  is  splendidly  decorated 
and  displays  the  most  exquisite  horseshoe  arches  con- 
structed of  the  purest  white  marble.  Another  ancient 
mosque  is  now  the  Cathedral  of  Algiers,  its  oriental 
character  being  well  preserved.  In  it  is  the  sarcoph- 
agus containing  the  famous  block  of  concrete  which 
inclosed  the  remains  of  the  Arab  martyr  Geronimo. 
He  was  put  to  death  in  1569  as  a  Christian  renegade, 
by  being  buried  alive  in  this  block  of  concrete,  which 
was  then  used  in  building  a  fort,  the  block  being 
discovered  several  centuries  later.  There  is  a 
plaster  cast  of  the  body  in  the  Algiers  Museum. 
This  structure,  formerly  a  palace  of  Mustapha 
Pasha,  is  regarded  as  the  best  specimen  of  Moorish 
architecture  in  the  city.  The  palaces  of  the  Gov- 
ernor-General and  the  Archbishop  are  also  impressive 
buildings. 

The  surmounting  Kasbah,  the  ancient  palace  of 
the  Deys,  and  citadel  of  the  city,  crowning  the  older 
town,  is  the  chief  attraction  of  Algiers,  being  now 
used  for  the  military  headquarters  and  barracks. 
It  is  well  preserved  and  has  a  large  central  court, 
paved  with  white  marble  and  surrounded  by  arched 


THE  AFRICAN  PARIS  227 

galleries.  The  ancient  throne-room  of  the  Deys  is 
on  one  side,  and  here  is  preserved  the  chain  on 
which,  in  the  piratical  times,  were  exposed  the 
heads  of  decapitated  Christian  slaves.  Alongside 
is  also  the  historic  pavilion,  wherein  was  given  the 
blow  to  the  French  Consul  in  1827  by  Hussein,  the 
last  Dey,  which  precipitated  the  French  invasion 
and  lost  him  the  throne.  The  name  of  the  Kasbah 
is  also  generally  given  to  the  Arab  quarter,  the 
older  town,  the  line  dividing  it  from  the  newer 
French  city  being  the  Rue  de  la  Lyre.  "  Cross  this 
street,"  writes  a  visitor,  "  and  you  step  back  a 
thousand  years;  in  no  Eastern  town  is  the  transi- 
tion so  abrupt,  and  at  few  Eastern  cities  can  one 
see  oriental  life  in  such  perfection."  The  narrow 
streets  are  largely  of  stairs  on  the  hill  slopes,  going 
up  to  the  cathedral,  or  down  to  the  newer  town. 
Here  the  "  Arabian  Nights "  are  reproduced,  and 
in  the  bazaars  the  ancient  diplomatic  method  of 
purchase  goes  on  now  much  as  then.  Solemn  bar- 
gaining is  an  indispensable  preliminary  to  pur- 
chasing, and  it  is  well  said  that  in  the  necessary 
amount  of  talk  and  chaffering,  "  the  buying  of  a  brass 
tray  or  embroidered  saddle-cloth  is  a  solemn  treaty, 
and  the  bargain  for  a  lamp  a  diplomatic  event  not  to 
be  lightly  undertaken  or  hurriedly  concluded."  The 
Algiers'  amusements,  which  culminate  at  the  carni- 
val, are  given  a  novel  tinge  by  these  Arabs  and  their 
negro  auxiliaries,  who  enter  into  the  festivity  with 


228  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

their  tom-toms  in  full  blast,  and  the  quaintest  music, 
the  sheiks  appearing  in  their  gorgeous  robes.  The 
Spahis,  or  native  Arab  cavalry,  who  are  an  adjunct 
to  the  French  military  establishment,  and  are 
mounted  on  superb  steeds,  also  go  through  specially 
interesting  manoeuvres.  Among  the  recent  events 
that  gave  a  great  day  to  Algiers  was  the  visit  of 
King  Edward  VII  and  Queen  Alexandra  in  April, 
1905,  calls  being  exchanged  with  the  Governor,  and 
the  people  enjoying  a  royal  holiday. 

Unlike  Morocco,  which  has  no  railways,  Algiers 
has  quite  an  extensive  system  developed  under  the 
French  management,  which  has  opened  up  various 
attractions  of  the  interior  of  the  country.  Among 
the  famous  monuments  near  the  city,  and  a  most 
conspicuous  landmark,  is  the  colossal  mausoleum  of 
the  ancient  Mauritania!!  sovereigns  Juba  II  and  his 
queen,  who  was  Cleopatra's  daughter.  It  is  a 
huge  truncated  cone,  about  one  hundred  feet  high 
and  having  a  circumference  at  the  base  of  six 
hundred  feet.  The  entrance  to  this  mausoleum  was 
recently  discovered,  but  it  was  found  that  the  tomb 
had  long  ago  been  rifled.  All  along  the  coasts  and 
in  the  interior  there  are  Roman  remains,  showing 
an  extensive  population  in  their  time,  with  ruins  of 
baths,  temples  and  amphitheatres,  and  these  relics 
extend  throughout  Algeria  and  Tunis.  Southward 
from  Algiers  is  Blidah,  famous  for  its  orange  groves, 
and  beyond  is  the  splendid  Gorge  of  the  Chiffa, 


CONSTANTINE  PROVINCE  229 

stretching  for  ten  miles  through  the  Atlas  range  with 
most  romantic  scenery,  the  enclosing  mountains  ris- 
ing about  5,000  feet.  Southward,  and  sixty  miles 
from  Algiers,  is  the  picturesque  mountain  town  and 
military  post  of  Medceh,  one  of  the  French  outposts 
defending  the  approach  to  the  Pass  at  an  elevation 
of  3,000  feet. 

CONSTANTINE    PROVINCE, 

The  chief  railway  system  of  Algeria  is  con- 
structed eastward  from  Algiers  to  Tunis,  with 
various  branches.  This  system  goes  through  the 
Province  of  Constantine,  corresponding  very 
nearly  to  the  ancient  kingdom  of  Numidia,  which  in 
early  times  was  occupied  by  nomadic  tribes  from 
whom  the  name  was  derived  through  Greek  sources. 
It  is  also  the  haunt  of  wild  animals,  frequently 
brought  to  Rome  to  adorn  the  triumphs  of  conquerors 
and  for  the  combats  in  the  Colosseum.  The  Numid- 
ians  were  famous  horsemen  and  before  the  Roman 
conquest,  when  tributary  to  Carthage,  they  gave 
Hannibal  his  powerful  cavalry  squadrons.  After- 
ward they  entered  into  coalitions  with  the  Romans 
and  aided  them  in  overcoming  Carthage.  Its  down- 
fall was  due  to  the  final  defeat  of  Hannibal  by 
Scipio,  at  Zama  in  ^NTumidia,  where  the  terror  caused 
by  an  unexpected  eclipse  of  the  sun  made  a  panic 
among  his  mercenary  allies.  The  Province  of 
Constantine  is  now  the  whole  eastern  portion  of 


230  THE  MEDITEERANEAN 

Algeria,  extending  to  Tunisia,  and  stretching  inland 
from  the  Mediterranean  southward  a  long  distance 
to  the  Sahara,  where  the  indefinite  limits  gradually 
shade  off  into  the  desert,  in  regions  occupied  by 
practically  independent  native  tribes.  In  fact  a 
very  large  part  of  the  population  of  the  whole 
province  is  composed  of  bands  of  these  nomadic 
people.  The  Atlas  ranges  traverse  it  toward  the  east- 
ward, the  mountain  spurs  sloping  to  and  being  broken 
off  in  rocky  precipices  along  the  Mediterranean 
coast.  The  splendid  mountain  region  known  as  the 
Algerian  Switzerland  lies  eastward  from  Algiers, 
and  is  penetrated  by  a  railway  through  the  district 
of  Kabylia,  where  the  mountain  spurs  stretch  out  to 
the  coast  for  many  miles,  in  protruding  capes,  with 
the  spacious  Gulf  of  Bougie  on  their  eastern  verge. 
On  the  summit  of  the  chief  mountain  overlooking 
this  superb  bay  is  a  great  French  fort  at  over  three 
thousand  feet  elevation  amid  grand  scenery,  which 
has  become  a  popular  centre  for  tourist  travel. 
Upon  the  shore  of  the  bay  about  a  hundred  miles 
east  of  Algiers,  is  the  capital  of  Kabylia,  the  town 
of  Bougie,  which  was  the  ancient  Saldae,  its  road- 
stead being  the  safest  on  the  Algerine  coast.  Up  on 
the  mountain  where  the  fort  crowns  the  summit  was 
a  place  of  pious  Arab  pilgrimage  for  many  centuries, 
which  got  for  Bougie  the  title  of  the  "  Little  Mecca." 
This  was  the  capital  in  the  fifth  century,  of  Gen- 
seric,  the  king  of  the  Vandals,  and  it  came  under 


CONSTANTINE  PROVINCE  231 

Arab  control  three  hundred  years  later.  After  the 
Spanish  conquest  in  the  early  sixteenth  century  it 
declined,  but  in  recent  years  the  French  have  been 
improving  it. 

Farther  eastward  is  the  fortified  town  and  sea- 
port of  Philippeville,  about  two  hundred  and  thirty 
miles  from  Algiers,  which  the  French  established 
in  1838,  naming  it  after  their  king  Louis  Philippe. 
The  old  harbor  of  Bona,  about  forty  miles  farther 
along  the  coast,  was  dangerous  and  unsatisfactory. 
This  was  the  very  ancient  Arab  town  of  Ras  Skiada, 
known  to  the  Romans  as  Rusicada,  and  the  new  set- 
tlement was  built  on  its  site  and  partly  with  its 
materials.  It  is  in  a  beautiful  situation  in  the 
deeply  indented  Gulf  of  Stora,  and  its  population  is 
mostly  European,  though  there  is  a  mosque,  and 
many  Arabs  are  settled  here.  The  port  enjoys  a 
considerable  trade  from  Europe,  passing  through 
it  on  the  caravan  routes  to  the  city  of  Constantine 
and  the  eastern  Sahara.  There  is  a  fertile  surround- 
ing district  and  abundant  forests  with  many  cork 
trees. 

To  the  eastward  the  river  Seibous,  coming  down 
from  the  mountains,  flows  into  the  sea,  behind  the 
protruding  Cape  Garde,  and  here  in  a  shallow  har- 
bor, was  the  ancient  Hippo  Regius,  one  of  the 
residences  of  the  Xumidian  kings,  which  the  Vandals 
captured  and  destroyed  in  the  early  fifth  century. 
This  city  was  famous  as  the  episcopal  see  of  St.  Au- 


232  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

gustine,  who  was  born  near  Carthage  in  November, 
354.  He  ministered  at  Hippo  Regius  for  thirty- 
five  years  until  his  death  in  430,  at  the  time  when 
Genseric  and  his  Vandal  fleet  and  army  began  the 
siege.  When  subsequently  the  Arabic  invaders  ar- 
rived in  the  seventh  century,  they  named  the  place 
Beled-el-Anib,  or  "  the  town  of  grapes,"  its  vine- 
yards being  very  productive.  From  this  title  came 
the  name  of  Bona,  which  was  built  along  the  western 
verge  of  the  harbor  and  about  a  mile  northward  from 
the  scanty  remains  of  ancient  Hippo.  The  relics 
of  St.  Augustine  are  preserved  in  the  Cathedral  at 
Pavia,  and  in  the  nineteenth  century  the  bone  of 
his  right  arm  was  brought  over  with  solemn  cere- 
mony and  deposited  in  the  church  at  Bona.  This 
fortified  settlement  has  a  splendid  environment  of 
hills,  and  nestles  at  their  bases,  having  been  modern- 
ized and  embellished  since  the  French  occupa- 
tion, although  much  of  the  former  trade  has 
been  diverted  to  the  more  modern  harbor  at 
Philippeville.  The  old  walls  are  flanked  by  four 
square  towers  and  pierced  by  four  gates,  one  on 
each  side,  while  high  on  the  hill  is  the  defensive 
citadel  built  by  the  Spaniards  under  Charles  V, 
when  they  got  possession  in  1535.  Bona  was 
captured  from  the  Moors  in  1832,  by  one  of  the 
most  brilliant  movements  of  the  French  Algerine 
invasion,  and  for  more  than  a  half  century  it  has 
been  a  French  prison  for  deported  malefactors. 


CONSTANTINE  PROVINCE  233 

There  are  extensive  coral  fisheries,  and  some  manu- 
factures, including  silk  and  tapestry.  A  spacious 
marsh  adjoining  the  town  on  the  Seibous  is  supposed 
to  have  been  the  harbor  of  ancient  Hippo  Regius. 

The  French,  for  strategical  purposes,  have  con- 
structed a  railroad  from  Philippeville  southward 
through  Constantine  Province,  traversing  all  the 
mountain  ranges,  and  going  out  over  the  Sahara 
desert,  which  is  designed  to  extend  several  hundred 
miles  southward  from  the  city  of  Constantine.  The 
river  Rumel,  coming  through  the  defiles  of  the  Atlas 
ranges,  flows  northward  to  the  Mediterranean,  and 
about  two  hundred  miles  east-southeast  from 
Algiers,  is  crossed  by  the  main  line  of  the  East 
Algerian  railway  from  Algiers  to  Tunis,  and  at  the 
same  place  by  the  other  strategical  road,  southward 
from  Philippeville  to  the  Sahara.  At  this  river 
ford  and  crossing,  the  ancients  built  the  town  of 
Cirta,  in  a  strongly  defensive  position,  upon  an 
eminence  closed  in  on  three  sides  by  the  Rumel,  this 
encircling  by  the  river  giving  the  place  its  name. 
Upon  the  fourth  side  the  position  is  connected  by  a 
low  ridge  with  the  adjacent  mountains.  Originally 
this  settlement  was  a  dependency  of  Carthage,  cap- 
tured by  the  Romans,  and  almost  destroyed  by  the 
Vandals  in  the  early  fifth  century.  The  Emperor 
Constantine  the  Great  was  attracted  by  its  romantic 
and  strategic  situation,  rebuilt  the  town  and  named  it 
Constantine.  The  Arabs  conquered  it  in  their  in- 


234  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

vasion  of  Northern  Africa,  and  strengthened  the 
defences  by  building  substantial  walls  constructed  of 
sculptured  marbles  taken  from  the  extensive  Roman 
ruins,  and  they  also  built  a  citadel  as  the  crowning 
work  of  the  defences.  A  venerable  Arabian  bridge, 
built  of  these  sculptured  stones,  crosses  a  deep  ravine 
alongside  the  town.  During  the  Moslem  domination, 
Constantino  belonged  to  Tunis  for  several  centuries, 
but  the  Algerines  captured  it  in  1520,  holding 
possession  until  the  place  came  under  the  nominal 
French  control  in  1830,  when  they  occupied  Algeria, 
though  in  fact  it  successfully  held  out  against  them 
until  1837",  when  it  was  captured  after  a  long  and 
destructive  siege.  Within  the  citadel  there  is  en- 
closed an  ancient  church  in  the  Byzantine  style  of 
architecture,  and  the  town  and  its  neighborhood  are 
filled  with  Roman  relics.  Although  Constantine  is 
the  chief  city  of  the  Province,  yet  it  is  not  very 
attractive,  the  streets  being  narrow  and  dirty  and  the 
buildings  inferior,  but  since  the  French  occupation 
it  has  been  improved.  There  is  a  good  deal  of 
trade  with  the  Algerine  ports  and  Tunis,  and  also 
by  railway  and  caravans  with  the  southern  desert. 
This  region  is  subject  to  earthquake  shocks,  a  good 
deal  of  damage  being  done  at  Constantine  by  a 
violent  earthquake  August  4,  1908. 

The  railway  southward  from  Constantine  to  the 
Sahara  passes  through  a  region  filled  with  Roman 
remains.  At  Batna  it  crosses  the  entrance  to  a 


CONSTANTINE  PROVINCE  235 

valley,  going  off  westward  among  the  mountains,  and 
having  within  it  the  ruins  of  the  famous  cities  of 
the  Roman  era,  Lambessa  and  Timgad.  Lambessa 
or  Lambaesa,  which  the  French  call  Lambese,  is 
about  five  miles  up  the  valley  and  fifty-five  miles 
southwest  from  Constantine,  and  is  now  used  as  a 
penal  colony  of  which  the  chief  modern  building  is 
the  extensive  prison.  This  was  an  important 
Numidian  city  and  an  extensive  Roman  camp. 
The  ruined  walls  and  gates  are  several  miles  in 
circumference.  Forty  gates  have  been  located  and 
fifteen  are  still  in  good  preservation.  There  are 
remains  of  an  amphitheatre,  Temple  of  Esculapius, 
a  triumphal  arch  erected  by  Septimus  Severus, 
two  forums,  and  baths  from  which  have  been  taken 
some  beautiful  mosaics.  The  Vandals,  as  else- 
where, destroyed  it  in  the  fifth  century/ and  the  site 
was  completely  lost,  until  rediscovered  by  the  French 
in  1844.  There  is  a  large  military  station  here. 
About  twenty  miles  farther  westward  along  the 
valley  are  the  ruins  of  the  extensive  city  of  Timgad, 
which  are  being  excavated  under  French  Government 
auspices,  the  great  mounds  covering  the  buildings 
being  removed,  and  many  columns  brought  into  light 
by  carting  away  the  debris.  The  Emperor  Trajan 
built  Thoumgadi,  and  it  was  a  c'tadel  and  large 
commercial  mart  at  the  intersection  of  various 
Roman  roads,  until  the  Arabs  destroyed  it.  About 
one-third  of  the  ancient  city  has  been  disclosed,  un- 


236  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

covering  the  residential  section,  with  streets  twenty 
feet  wide,  crossing  at  right  angles,  paved  with  huge 
blocks  of  limestone  measuring  three  by  four  feet, 
and  in  which  the  chariot  wheels  have  worn  deep 
ruts.  Sewers  run  beneath  each  street  and  the 
whole  city  is  underdrained,  nearly  every  house 
having  its  sewer  connexion.  The  principal  streets 
are  bordered  by  huge  marble  columns,  though  many 
are  broken  and  others  are  missing.  On  some  streets, 
as  notably  the  street  of  Decumanus  Maximus,  the 
visitor  can  look  through  these  ruined  colonnades  for 
a  long  distance.  This  street  leads  from  the 
triumphal  arch  of  Trajan  to  the  Forum,  and  on 
both  sides  are  many  acres  of  ruined  buildings  in  all 
stages  of  picturesque  destruction.  Many  of  the 
houses  gave  evidence  of  beautiful  decorations  in 
mosaic  and  fresco,  depicting  mythological  subjects. 
There  were  a  spacious  market-place,  extensive  baths, 
a  gymnasium,  large  theatre,  library  and  forum, 
Temples  of  Jupiter  and  Victory,  and  the  arch 
erected  in  honor  of  the  Emperor  Trajan,  partly  in 
ruins,  was  a  hundred  feet  high,  built  of  sandstone 
with  marble  columns.  The  many  relics  here  re- 
covered are  preserved  in  a  museum,  and  make  an 
interesting  display,  the  articles  being  in  most  cases 
similar  to  those  found  at  Pompeii,  the  foundation  of 
Thoumgadi  having  been  shortly  after  the  destruction 
of  that  unfortunate  city. 

The  railway  leading  to   the   Sahara  goes   south- 


A  Bit  of  Old  Biskra. 


CONSTANTINE  PROVINCE  237 

ward  to  the  Oasis  of  Biskra,  now  a  noted  French 
winter  resort  which  is  practically  in  the  desert,  about 
175  miles  south  of  the  Mediterranean.  Biskra  was 
first  brought  into  notice  as  the  "  Beni  Mora "  in 
the  novel  of  The  Garden  of  Allah.  Here  is  the 
stony  bed  of  the  Oued  or  dry  river  Biskra,  which 
becomes  a  flood  in  the  rainy  season,  the  town  being 
built  on  a  plateau  about  three  hundred  feet  above 
the  river,  with  the  sand-hills  of  the  desert  stretching 
southward,  and  the  Atlas  ranges  towering  over  a 
mile  high  in  almost  perpendicular  cliffs  to  the 
northward.  Here  come  thousands  of  visitors  for  a 
winter  home,  so  that  many  large  hotels  and  lodging 
houses  have  been  built,  and  all  the  amusements  of 
fashionable  watering  place  life  are  provided.  There 
are  native  Arab  villages  among  the  palm  trees 
and  the  fruit  gardens,  a  fort  and  church,  and  this 
green  spot  amid  the  desolation  is  known  as  the 
"  Queen  of  the  Sahara  "  and  the  "  City  of  the  Palm 
Trees."  The  cool  winter  winds  from  the  Atlas 
mountains  temper  the  heat  of  the  sands  and  the 
atmosphere  is  very  dry  and  clear.  To  the  north- 
ward, back  whence  the  railway  comes,  the  view  is  of 
a  clean-cut  rugged  outline  of  mountain  ridges 
against  the  light  blue  sky,  while  to  the  southward 
stretches  the  apparently  endless  desert  which  in  the 
distance  shines  beyond  the  yellow  sands,  like  a  vast, 
yet  still,  blue  ocean.  The  winds  at  times  blow 
wildly  here  and  raise  much  dust,  so  that  in  summer 


238  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

all  the  sojourners  flee  northward  to  avoid  the  heat. 
There  is  a  modern  French  town,  enclosed  by  walls 
and  entered  by  gates,  and  an  Arab  town  of  a  half- 
dozen  mud  villages  scattered  among  the  extensive 
plantations  of  date  palms.  Street-car  lines  connect 
them,  and  the  whole  settlement  is  a  French  military 
post,  being  their  chief  station  for  the  eastern  Sahara. 
The  oasis  is  fed  by  springs  from  the  river,  which  is 
dry  most  of  the  year,  but  wells  have  tapped  these 
springs  and  provide  a  supply,  the  water  being  slightly 
alkaline.  The  palm  groves  produce  five  thousand 
tons  of  dates  every  year,  an  average  tree  yielding 
over  one  hundred  pounds.  3STot  far  away  are  the 
sulphur  baths  long  frequented  by  the  Arabs,  the 
Hamman  Salaliin  or  "  Baths  of  the  Saints." 

Out  in  the  desert,  a  dozen  miles  from  Biskra,  is 
the  oasis  of  Sidi  Okba,  another  plantation  of  palm 
trees,  with  an  Arab  town  of  mud  walls,  its  gates 
strictly  closed  at  nightfall.  Sidi  Okba  was  the 
famous  Moslem  saint  and  conqueror,  who  sub- 
jugated all  of  northern  Africa  in  the  first  great  Arab 
invasion,  and  was  the  creator  of  "  Kairouan  the 
Holy,"  his  shrine  in  Tunisia.  As  he  progressed  in 
his  victorious  career,  he  converted  all  the  nomadic 
peoples,  by  telling  them  they  should  surely  die 
unless  they  embraced  El  Islam,  and  when  he  reached 
the  shores  of  the  Atlantic  he  is  said  to  have  ridden 
into  the  surf  on  his  Arabian  steed,  declaring  that 
were  it  not  for  this  barrier,  he  would  make 


CONSTANTINE  PROVINCE  239 

the  people  of  every  region  beyond,  worship  Allah 
or  die.  Many  places  have  been  named  after  this 
Mohammedan  hero,  and  this  oasis  has  one  of  his 
shrines,  an  ancient  mosque,  regarded  as  the  oldest 
Moslem  building  in  Africa.  To  it  the  faithful 
make  pilgrimages  as  to  Mecca.  Upon  this  oasis  is 
the  Kaid's  Garden,  a  wilderness  of  aloes  and  palms, 
frequented  by  many  of  the  natives,  who  have  no 
homes  and  sleep  out  doors.  These  white-gowned 
Arabs  sleep  with  their  heads  covered  as  a  protec- 
tion against  the  flies  that  are  in  swarms  in 
all  these  green  spots  of  the  desert.  And  as  the 
homeless  Arab  thus  goes  to  sleep  amid  these  little 
tormentors,  he  breathes  a  prayer  for  the  Caliph 
Adalma,  the  terror  of  the  flies,  to  drive  them  away. 
This  old  Caliph  had  a  breath  fatal  to  flies,  so  that 
they  dropped  dead  whenever  they  flew  over  his 
mouth.  A  favorite  sport  of  the  Arabs  is  racing 
with  their  fleet-footed  camels,  which  are  so  tall  and 
lean  that  they  seem  to  be  mostly  legs  and  can 
readily  run  fifteen  miles  an  hour.  The  usual  course 
is  between  Biskra  and  the  French  outpost  station  of 
Touggourt,  one  hundred  and  thirty  miles  southward, 
and  at  the  end  of  the  railway  route  on  the  desert. 
Here  are  found  several  thousand  of  the  Arab  nomads 
around  the  military  station,  and  there  is  presented 
a  true  oriental  picture  of  their  mode  of  life  on  this 
outer  frontier  of  civilization,  in  the  vast  expanse  of 
utter  desolation  making  the  Sahara. 


240  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

TUNISIA. 

As  the  traveller  moves  eastward  through  Con- 
stantine  Province,  and  across  the  boundary  into 
Tunisia,  the  whole  country  discloses  a  most 
extensive  and  varied  display  of  relics  and  ruins 
of  the  Phoenician,  Carthaginian  and  Roman  periods. 
It  shows  remains  of  many  cities  of  those  days,  when 
there  must  have  been  a  very  large  population.  This 
region  seems  to  be  strewn  with  Roman  survivals, 
almost  as  much  as  Italy  itself,  and  some  of  the 
ancient  Roman  houses  still  existing  are  even  yet  in 
possession  of  the  roofs  built  at  that  time,  and  are 
preserved,  practically  unchanged  by  their  Arab 
occupants.  Tunisia  adjoins  the  Constantine  Prov- 
ince on  the  eastward,  beyond  the  Gulf  of  Bona, 
and  like  Morocco  and  Algeria  is  crossed  by  the 
Lesser  Atlas  mountain  ranges,  which  fall  sharply  off 
at  the  seacoast.  The  Mediterranean  shore  is  pro- 
longed northeastward,  with  protruding  headlands 
formed  by  these  ranges,  and  has  between  two  of  the 
long  promontories  the  Gulf  of  Tunis.  Upon  its 
western  verge  was  the  location  of  the  renowned 
city  of  Carthage,  and  a  little  way  to  the  southward 
at  the  head  of  the  Gulf  is  the  modern  city  of 
Tunis.  Forming  the  southeastern  border  of  this 
Gulf  is  the  far  projecting  Cape  Bon,  and  beyond, 
the  shore,  turning  sharply  from  the  east,  trends 
southward  for  a  long  distance.  It  stretches  for 


A  Moorish  Interior. 


TUNISIA  241 

about  three  hundred  miles  to  the  Gulf  of  Gabes 
and  makes  the  widest  part  of  the  Mediterranean, 
by  the  extensive  Sea  of  Syrtes,  thus  extended 
far  into  the  African  coast.  The  prolongation  east- 
ward of  the  two  Atlas  chains  beyond  Algeria 
to  the  seacoast  with  the  intervening  valleys  make 
the  regency  of  Tunisia,  which  has  been  a  dependency 
of  France  since  1881,  and  is  about  one  hundred  and 
fifty  miles  wide  and  three  hundred  miles  long. 
Between  the  Lesser  and  the  Greater  Atlas  lies  the 
extensive  valley  of  the  river  Mejerda,  the  ancient 
Bagradus,  the  most  important  river  of  northern 
Africa,  which  after  a  winding  course  of  nearly 
three  hundred  miles,  receiving  many  tributaries 
from  the  Atlas  fastnesses,  falls  into  the  Gulf  of  Tunis 
at  its  northwestern  corner  near  the  steep  limestone 
cliffs  of  Cape  Farina.  The  East  Algerian  railway 
coming  through  the  mountain  passes  from  Constan- 
tine,  traverses  this  valley  to  Tunis,  and  it  is  a  very 
fertile  intervale,  displaying  many  important  re- 
mains, indicating  its  prosperity  in  the  time  of 
Carthage  and  of  Rome,  the  river  flowing  through  the 
valley  to  the  westward  of  where  Carthage  was 
built.  The  southern  wall  of  the  Mejerda  valley 
and  of  the  Gulf  of  Tunis  is  formed  by  a  branch 
coming  up  northeastward  from  the  southern  Atlas 
chain,  connected  by  the  plateau  of  Tabessa  with 
Mount  Aures,  and  then  stretching  out  to  form  the 

ponderous  extremity  of  Cape  Bon,  where  the  massive 
VOL.  1—16 


242  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

promontory  falls  off  abruptly  into  the  sea,  and 
makes  the  northeastern  corner  of  Tunisia.  In  this 
range  the  highest  summits  are  elevated  over  5,000 
feet.  Another  range  extends  from  the  southern 
side  of  Mount  Aures  toward  the  Gulf  of  Gabes, 
which  was  the  Roman  Syrtes  Minor.  This  fertile 
and  prolific  region  was  one  of  the  most  valuable 
granaries  of  Rome,  it  being  but  a  short  sea  voyage 
over  to  Italy.  The  Bey  of  Tunis  had  an  independent 
control  of  his  country  until  1881,  when  to  punish 
cattle  thieving  a  French  force  came  over  the  border 
from  Algeria  and  compelled  him  to  accept  a  French 
regency  and  protectorate.  Since  then  his  dignity 
is  observed,  but  his  power  is  gone.  Cape  Blanc,  the 
northern  extremity  of  Tunisia,  is  a  headland  thrust 
out  into  the  Mediterranean  northwest  of  Tunis, 
which  is  the  most  northern  point  in  Africa. 

The  city  of  Tunis,  the  capital  of  the  regency,  is 
some  distance  westward  from  the  Gulf  of  Tunis, 
being  connected  with  its  port,  La  Goulette,  ten  miles 
off,  on  the  Gulf,  by  a  canal.  The  city  is  mostly 
low-lying  and  built  upon  an  isthmus  between  two 
salt  lakes,  the  shallow  Boheira  or  Lake  of  Tunis  to 
the  northeast,  and  a  marshy  enclosure  toward  the 
southwest.  The  Boheira  is  about  twelve  miles  in 
circumference,  and  through  it,  the  wide  and  deep 
canal  recently  dug,  goes  over  to  La  Goulette,  piercing 
the  narrow  strip  of  land  separating  the  lake  from 
the  sea,  and  thus  providing  the  passageway  for  an 


TUNISIA  243 

extensive  commerce.  Northward  of  the  canal,  in 
the  shallow  lagoon,  is  Shikly  island,  with  the  re- 
mains of  a  castle  of  the  time  of  Charles  V,  and  now 
the  home  of  flamingoes  and  other  wild  birds.  The 
older  Arab  town  of  Tunis,  of  which  the  walls  have 
mostly  disappeared,  lies  between  two  more  modern 
suburbs  on  the  north  and  south,  which  a  century 
ago  were  also  protected  by  walls.  This  older  town 
is  called  Medina,  the  northern  suburb  Bab-Souika, 
and  the  southern  Bab-Dzira,  and  they  have  the  usual 
Arab  characteristics  of  enclosed  houses  and  narrow 
streets,  though  the  latter  are  now  paved.  Since  the 
French  occupation,  a  modern  quarter,  with  wider 
streets  and  an  European  appearance,  has  sprung  up 
on  the  side  next  the  harbor,  displaying  buildings 
of  a  superior  class.  To  the  westward,  on  the 
highest  ground  of  the  city,  is  the  Kasbah,  an 
extensive  citadel,  now  used  as  barracks  by  the  troops, 
and  also  dating  from  the  time  of  Charles  V. 
Within  the  enclosure  is  the  mosque  built  on  this 
elevation  by  Abu  Zakariya,  who  founded  the 
Moorish  Hafsita  dynasty  in  1232,  then  making 
Tunis  his  capital.  Afterward  Tunis  was  held  by  the 
various  Moorish  dynasties  ruling  northern  Africa, 
and  in  the  sixteenth  century  came  under  the  sov- 
ereignty of  the  Sultan  of  Turkey,  which  continued 
until  the  French  took  possession.  The  city  has  a 
population  of  about  170,000  and  the  whole  Tunisian 
regency  approximates  2,000,000.  The  Bey  has 


244  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

French  officials  at  the  head  of  all  government  depart- 
ments, and  the  country  is  garrisoned  like  Algeria  by 
French  troops,  although  he  has  a  native  force  of  a 
few  hundred  men  for  a  guard  of  honor.  Residing 
at  La  Marsa,  over  toward  the  northeast,  on  the  site 
of  ancient  Carthage,  the  Bey  comes  into  town  every 
Monday  to  transact  business,  travelling  on  a 
special  railway  train  and  coming  and  going  with 
great  pomp,  including  the  exchange  of  formal  salutes 
with  the  French  officers. 

His  palace,  the  Dar  el  Bey  has  a  number  of 
beautifully  decorated  rooms,  in  Moorish  arabesque 
stucco,  and  fronts  a  small  square  with  gardens  on  the 
street  leading  to  the  Kasbah.  There  is  a  fine  view 
from  the  flat  palace  roof  over  the  white  buildings 
of  the  city,  and  the  minarets  of  the  many  mosques. 
Some  of  these  mosques  are  spacious  and  famous. 
In  the  centre  of  the  city  is  the  grand  Mosque  of  the 
Olive  Tree,  founded  by  Abu  Zakariya,  having  many 
minarets  and  domes,  with  a  special  cloister  and 
library,  and  it  is  at  the  same  time  a  college  for 
about  five  hundred  Moslem  students.  To  the 
northward,  near  the  walls  of  the  old  town,  rises  the 
massive  dome  of  Sidi  Mahres,  the  largest  mosque 
in  Tunis,  named  after  this  renowned  saint  who  lived 
in  the  fifth  century  after  the  Hegira,  and  whose 
tomb  gives  the  mosque  the  right  of  sanctuary  for 
debtors.  A  chief  attraction  of  the  city  is  the 
bazaars  which  retain  their  oriental  character  un- 


TUNISIA  245 

impaired.  These  adjoin  the  street  leading  to  the 
Kasbah,  and  consist  of  narrow  lanes,  vaulted  or 
covered  with  planks,  which  are  known  as  Suks, 
signifying  the  various  divisions,  each  of  which  is 
usually  devoted  to  the  sale  of  articles  of  a  particular 
kind.  Here  is  great  chance  for  successful  bar- 
gaining, and  the  one  who  has  been  to  these 
bazaars  suggests,  that  for  the  dearer  articles,  only 
about  one-fourth  the  amount  first  asked  should  be 
offered  as  a  proper  basis  for  satisfactory  negotiation. 
The  suburbs  of  Tunis  are  attractive,  abounding  in 
beautiful  views,  and  from  a  hill  southeast  of  the 
city  is  given  a  good  outlook,  as  also  from  the 
Belvedere  eminence  two  miles  to  the  northward, 
where  there  was  a  very  ancient  fortress.  The  south- 
western hill,  called  the  Fort  de  la  Manoubia,  pro- 
vides a  wide  view  over  the  city,  the  lake,  the  port 
of  J.a  Goulette  and  the  ruins  of  Carthage,  with  the 
distant  blue  sea  for  the  eastern  background,  and  the 
mountain  ranges  on  the  landward  side.  To  the 
northeastward,  and  coming  out  of  the  western  hills, 
can  be  traced  the  ancient  aqueduct  which  sup- 
plied Carthage  with  water.  The  old  palace  of 
the  Bardo  is  about  two  miles  northwest  of  Tunis, 
an  extensive  group  of  buildings  which  includes 
a  palace  of  the  Bey  that  has  fallen  in  some  decay. 
Here  are  some  excellent  specimens  of  carved  and 
painted  ceilings  of  tiles,  and  reproductions  of  the 
carved  stucco  work  which  is  seen  in  perfection  at  the 


246  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

Granada  Alhambra.  There  is  also  an  attractive 
"  Lion  Court."  In  the  Museum  are  Carthaginian 
and  Roman  antiquities  in  a  government  collection, 
with  specimens  of  Roman  mosaics  and  Saracenic  art. 
At  the  port  of  La  Goulette  is  a  convict  prison  on  the 
cliffs,  where  in  June,  1905,  seventeen  armed  con- 
victs managed  to  dig  their  way  through  the  walls 
and  escape.  The  sentries  sounded  an  alarm,  and 
a  force  of  wardens  went  after  them  making  a 
desperate  battle  on  the  terrace  adjoining  the  prison 
on  top  of  the  cliffs.  One  convict  was  killed  and 
another  dashed  to  pieces  by  falling  over  the  rocks. 
Six  who  were  wounded  were  captured  and  the  others 
escaped. 

ANCIENT    CARTHAGE. 

To  the  northeast  of  Tunis,  about  fifteen  miles, 
is  the  most  famous  locality  of  remote  memory  in 
Northern  Africa,  the  ruins  of  Carthage.  The 
steamer  coming  across  the  sea  to  Tunis  enters  the 
Gulf  of  Tunis,  its  waters  given  a  yellowish  tinge 
by  the  overflow  of  the  great  river  Medjerda,  and 
rounding  Sidi  Boa  Said,  on  Cape  Carthage,  passes 
the  Byrsa  or  Castle-hill  of  Carthage,  now  surmounted 
by  a  large  modern  Cathedral.  A  little  way  to 
the  southward  was  the  ancient  harbor,  down  by 
the  sea,  where  the  coast  is  now  fringed  with 
various  villas  and  palaces.  The  Phoenicians  were 
the  early  settlers  of  Carthage,  long  before  the 


ANCIENT  CARTHAGE  247 

foundation  of  Rome,  it  being  the  Keroth-Hadeshoth, 
or  "  new  city."  The  tradition  is  that  about  878 
B.  C.,  Dido,  fleeing  from  ancient  Tyre,  landed  on 
this  part  of  the  coast,  and  was  welcomed  by  the  in- 
habitants, who  agreed  to  give  her  as  much  land  as 
could  be  compassed  by  an  ox-hide.  The  enterprising 
lady  cut  the  hide  into  narrow  thongs,  and  fastening 
them  together,  made  a  long  cord  with  which  she 
enclosed  a  large  tract  of  land.  Dido  was  the  sister 
of  Pygmalion,  the  king  of  Tyre,  and  he  had 
murdered  her  husband  Acerbas  before  the  altar,  in 
order  to  seize  his  wealth.  But  Dido  thwarted  this 
by  suddenly  setting  sail  from  Tyre,  with  all  her 
possessions  and  her  faithful  companions,  bound  for 
the  Tyrian  colony  of  Utica,  which  was  on  the 
ancient  river  Bagradus  near  where  she  landed. 
Here  she  built  the  original  citadel  on  the  Byrsa  hill, 
and  founded  Carthage,  of  which  she  became  the 
queen,  and  where  she  was  afterward  worshipped  as 
a  goddess.  The  place  grew,  and  its  power  extended 
over  all  the  shores  of  the  western  Mediterranean. 
As  it  expanded,  it  came  into  conflict  at  first  with  the 
Greeks,  who  then  held  the  neighboring  island  of 
Sicily,  and  afterward  with  the  Romans.  The  latter 
called  its  people  the  Punici,  referring  both  to  the 
"  red  men "  living  in  the  region,  and  the  palms 
growing  luxuriantly  there,  while  the  Carthaginians 
themselves  styled  their  tribe  as  Canaanites,  or 
"  dwellers  on  the  plain."  For  five  centuries  or 


248  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

more  it  was  the  greatest  Mediterranean  power,  and 
under  Hannibal  and  Hanno,  its  troops  almost  ex- 
terminated Eome.  But  the  latter  ultimately  con- 
quered, Scipio,  146  B.  C.,  capturing  and  destroying 
the  famous  city.  The  Emperor  Augustus  made  it  a 
Roman  colony,  and  the  great  fertility  of  the 
Bagradus  valley  gave  it  such  prosperity  that  it  be- 
came the  third  city  in  the  Roman  empire.  When 
that  empire  fell  to  pieces,  the  Vandals  got  posses- 
sion, and  it  became  Genseric's  capital.  Belisarius 
took  it,  and  then  the  Mohammedan  invasion  in 
the  seventh  century  again  captured  and  destroyed 
the  city.  Continuing  under  Arab  rule,  the  pi- 
rate brothers  Barbarossa  conquered  it  in  the  six- 
teenth century,  and  when  France  got  Tunisia  its 
ruins  came  into  the  possession  of  that  country. 

There  are  extensive  Roman  remains,  distributed 
over  a  large  surface,  but  owing  to  the  repeated 
destructions,  the  actual  outline  of  the  ancient  city  is 
no  longer  visible,  while  even  the  site  itself  has 
undergone  repeated  changes.  At  present,  the  most 
conspicuous  objects  are  the  buildings  of  modern 
construction  on  the  hill  of  the  Byrsa.  St.  Louis, 
the  King  of  France  died  here  in  1270,  while  en- 
gaged in  a  crusade  against  the  Moors  in  Tunis,  and 
in  1841  the  French  erected  the  small  chapel  of  St. 
Louis  in  his  memory.  Cardinal  Lavigeric,  who  was 
subsequently  in  charge  of  the  mission,  built  the 
present  cathedral,  which  stands  up  prominently  in 


ANCIENT  CARTHAGE  249 

the  architectural  guise  of  an  oriental  Moorish  music 
hall,  the  Cardinal's  idea  being  that  if  he  made 
his  cathedral  as  much  as  possible  like  a  highly 
ornamented  and  floridly  showy  mosque,  he  might  the 
more  easily  induce  the  Arabs  to  worship  in  it. 
There  are  also  a  large  hotel  on  the  hill,  and  a  French 
chalet,  built  in  imitation  of  a  castle  donjon.  This 
hill  of  the  ancient  citadel,  with  its  surmounting 
cathedral,  is  a  conspicuous  object  seen  from  afar,  and 
it  gives  a  wide  view  over  a  splendid  landscape 
of  mountain,  plain,  lake,  orchards,  gardens  and  the 
broad  sea.  There  is  a  museum  of  Phrenician  art 
antiquities  and  Roman  and  Byzantine  remains. 
Spacious  cemeteries  cover  the  adjacent  surfaces,  and 
here  are  buried  in  layers  the  ancient  Byzantines, 
Romans  and  Carthaginians,  the  latter,  who  were  of 
Phrenician  extraction,  being  at  the  bottom.  Ex- 
tensive excavations  begun  in  1892  under  the 
auspices  of  the  church  prelates  have  disclosed  much 
of  the  ancient  ruins.  There  are  traceable  the 
remains  of  an  amphitheatre  and  circus,  fragments  of 
the  old  city  walls,  aqueducts  and  many  cisterns  used 
for  water  storage.  The  harbor  was  about  a  half  mile 
south  of  the  Byrsa  hill,  composed  of  two  ports,  a 
commercial  and  a  naval  haven,  and  it  was  here  that 
Scipio  landed  and  had  his  chief  contest,  fighting 
through  the  narrow '  streets  as  he  advanced  to  the 
storming  and  capture  of  the  citadel  on  the  hill.  To 
the  northeastward  stretches  the  Peninsula  of  Cape 


250  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

Carthage,  rising  nearly  four  hundred  feet  above  the 
sea,  where  the  extremity  abruptly  ends,  its  high 
lighthouse  giving  a  grand  outlook. 

The  original  Phoenician  settlement  in  Tunisia, 
the  ancient  Utica,  is  twenty-one  miles  northwest  of 
Tunis,  on  the  estuary  of  the  Medjerda.  Here  was 
founded  the  original  Phoenician  seaport  colony 
1100  B.  C.,  then  connected  with  the  sea  by  the 
Bagradus,  but  the  river's  course  has  since  been 
deviated  eastward,  so  that  the  scant  remains  of 
Utica  are  now  fully  five  miles  from  the  sea.  This 
was  the  seat  of  a  Roman  proconsul,  and  here,  when 
CaBsar  overthrew  Pompey,  the  younger  Cato  killed 
himself  46  B.  C.  Out  on  the  coast,  farther  north- 
west, is  the  Arab  town  of  Biserta,  on  the  most 
northern  land  in  Africa,  the  ancient  Hippo  Diar- 
rhytos.  The  French  have  strongly  fortified  its  har- 
bor where  Charles  V  built  a  fortress  in  the  sixteenth 
century.  Off  Biserta  in  October,  1906,  the  French 
submarine  boat  Lutin  was  sunk  with  a  crew  of 
fifteen  officers  and  men,  all  of  whom  were  drowned, 
though  some  had  survived  under  water  for  thirty 
hours  judging  by  the  signals  they  made. 

HOLY    KAIROUAN. 

The  mountains  of  Zaghouan,  to  the  southward, 
supply  Tunis  with  water,  as  they  did  ancient  Car- 
thage, and  extensive  remains  still  exist  of  the 
aqueduct  leading  thence  in  the  Roman  days.  The 


HOLY  KAIROUAN  251 

highest  summit,  the  Djebol  Zaghouan,  rises  4,245 
feet.  To  the  southward  is  the  large  town  of  Susa 
or  Suisse,  as  the  French  call  it,  in  a  district  that  is 
the  home  of  various  nomadic  tribes,  while  to  the 
southwest  is  the  famous  city  of  Kairouan.  This, 
regarded  by  the  Mohammedans  as  the  most  holy 
city  in  Africa,  is  about  eighty  miles  south  of  Tunis, 
and  was  founded  by  the  great  leader  and  saint, 
Sidi  Okba,  who,  as  heretofore  stated,  led  the  over- 
whelming Moslem  invasion  in  the  seventh  century, 
which  captured  for  the  followers  of  the  Prophet, 
the  whole  northern  part  of  the  continent.  It  is  sit- 
uated upon  a  height  some  distance  inland  from  the 
sea,  that  commands  an  extensive  sandy  plain,  and  has 
to  the  eastward  the  Kairouan  Lake,  its  feeding 
stream  flowing  past  the  city.  As  usual  with  the 
Arab  settlements,  the  original  town  is  surrounded 
by  walls  and  has  a  gate  on  each  side.  It  is  well 
built  and  contains  various  stately  structures  includ- 
ing mosques  and  tombs.  It  is  one  of  the  few  places 
where  the  stranger  is  admitted  to  the  mosques,  this 
privilege  being  secured  by  the  endorsement  of  the 
French  ruler  of  the  city.  The  great  Akbar  mosque, 
founded  by  Sidi  Okba,  and  supposed  to  be  his  shrine 
and  actual  burial  place,  occupies  a  large  part  of  the 
enclosed  city,  the  roof  being  supported  by  over  three 
hundred  antique  columns  of  marble,  granite  and 
porphyry,  its  minaret  towering  in  three  stories,  and 
there  being  a  large  interior  court  and  imposing 


252  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

prayer  hall.  The  smaller  Amer-Abbada  mosque  has 
six  domes,  while  outside  the  walls,  beyond  the  north- 
eastern gate,  is  the  mosque  of  Sidi  Sahab,  a  com- 
panion of  Mohammed,  whose  magnificent  Arabic 
tomb  is  an  object  of  pilgrimages.  It  is  here  that 
the  performances  take  place  on  certain  fixed  days  by 
the  flagellant  Moslem  sect  of  the  Aioussa,  while  on 
other  days  they  are  not  unwilling  to  go  through  the 
self-inflicted  stripes  for  a  fee  of  thirty  francs.  The 
water  supply  of  Kairouan  comes  from  the  hills  and 
is  collected  in  an  open  reservoir,  built  as  a  polygon 
of  sixty-four  sides,  each  extending  eighteen  feet  and 
called  the  cistern  of  Ibrahim  ben  Aglab.  This  ven- 
erable city,  founded  about  the  year  670,  grew  with 
rapid  strides,  and  in  the  ninth  and  tenth  centuries 
was  the  capital  of  all  the  Moslem  conquests  in  North- 
ern Africa.  Its  population  then  exceeded  sixty 
thousand,  but  is  estimated  now  only  at  twenty 
thousand.  Their  Moslem  rule  is  still  very  strict  and 
they  forbid  merchants  of  other  faiths  from  becoming 
permanent  residents.  The  place  is  reached  by  cara- 
vans and  the  modern  autocars  over  good  roads,  and 
the  prominent  manufactures  are  yellow  morocco 
boots  and  slippers. 

About  forty  miles  south  of  Susa  and  near  the  coast 
is  the  ancient  Roman  Thysdros,  now  known  as  El 
Djem,  a  little  Arab  village  of  mud  huts,  having  near 
it  an  enormous  amphitheatre,  almost  as  big  as  the 
Roman  Colosseum,  the  greater  part  of  which  is  still 


TRIPOLI  253 

standing.  It  covers  about  six  acres,  and  would  have 
accommodated  sixty  thousand  people,  and  for  cen- 
turies has  been  a  stone  quarry  for  all  the  plundering 
races  who  ruled  the  land  and  sought  building  stone. 
Thysdros  was  a  large  Koman  city  in  the  third  cen- 
tury, but  the  Arabs  destroyed  almost  everything 
after  the  Moslem  conquest,  and  the  mosaics  from  the 
enormous  amphitheatre  have  been  taken  away  to 
various  museums,  the  spacious  mosaic  which  covered 
the  arena  being  on  the  Bey's  Palace  at  Tunis.  Ex- 
tensive excavations  are  being  made  and  restorations 
planned  here  under  French  auspices.  Farther  south 
and  on  a  good  harbor  is  Sfax,  the  capital  of  Southern 
Tunisia,  which  has  fifty  thousand  people  including 
some  Europeans,  a  city  surrounded  by  huge  walls 
and  entered  through  imposing  gates,  as  are  all  the 
Arab  towns  of  Tunisia.  The  streets  are  narrow  and 
crooked,  the  houses  of  the  usual  Arabian  style,  and 
the  people  are  very  jealous  of  the  Christians.  The 
French  maintain  a  garrison  for  their  protection. 
This  whole  country  is  full  of  Roman  remains  and 
was  very  populous  in  their  day  of  greatest  power. 

TRIPOLI. 

The  sea  to  the  eastward  of  the  northern  extremity 
of  Tunisia,  between  its  coasts  and  Sicily  and  Malta, 
is  known  as  the  Sicilian  Sea.  Southward  of  this, 
the  Mediterranean  has  a  long  projection  into  North- 
ern Africa,  making  its  widest  part,  and  this  is 


254  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

the  Sea  of  Syrtes,  which  was  a  part  of  the  ancient 
Libyan  Sea,  the  portion  of  the  Mediterranean,  now 
regarded  as  its  eastern  half,  stretching  from  the  coast 
of  Tunisia  to  Crete  and  Egypt.  The  Sea  of  Syrtes 
spreads  in  two  large  gulfs,  the  southwestern  being 
the  Gulf  of  Gabes,  and  the  southeastern  and  more  ex- 
pansive, the  Gulf  of  Sidra.  In  the  early  records 
these  are  frequently  written  about,  and  were  known 
as  the  Syrtes  Minor  and  the  Syrtes  Major.  They 
were  very  dangerous  to  old-time  navigators,  because 
of  shallowness,  quicksands,  and  the  uncertainties  of 
tides.  The  Gulf  of  Gabes,  named  from  the  town  on 
its  shore,  indents  the  southern  portion  of  the  Tunis- 
ian east  coast,  and  is  about  one  hundred  miles  wide, 
between  Caput  Vadorum,  the  Ras  Kapudiah,  on  the 
north  and  Jerbah  island  on  the  south.  The  larger 
Gulf  of  Sidra,  on  the  northern  coast  of  Tripoli,  to 
the  eastward,  extends  for  about  two  hundred  and 
seventy  miles,  between  the  promontory  of  Cephala?, 
now  the  Eas  Kasr  Harriet  on  the  west,  and  the  prom- 
ontory of  Boreum,  the  Ras  Teyonas  on  the  east,  and 
it  stretches  inland  over  one  hundred  miles.  The 
region  between  the  two  gulfs  is  mostly  a  narrow 
sandy  or  marshy  strip  of  land,  anciently  known  as 
Syrtica.  Its  original  people  were  various  nomadic 
Libyan  tribes  living  inland,  with  Egyptians  and 
Phoenicians  on  the  coast.  To  the  west  was  Carthage, 
and  to  the  east  Gyrene,  and  they  long  contended  for 
its  mastery,  Carthage  ultimately  succeeding,  it  is 


TRIPOLI  255 

said,    through    the    self-sacrifice    of    the    brothers 
Philseni. 

The  land  bordering  the  Sea  of  Syrtes,  eastward 
from  Tunisia,  is  now  the  Turkish  vilayet  or  regency 
of  Tripoli.  The  headland  of  the  Ras  Agir,  is  the 
Tunisian  frontier  on  the  west.  For  some  distance 
eastward,  the  low  and  sandy  shores  of  ancient  Syrtica, 
along  this  coast,  are  regarded  as  really  a  part  of  the 
great  Sahara,  thus  stretching  up  to  the  sea,  though 
the  actual  desert  is  not  strictly  considered  as  being 
nearer  than  about  eighty  miles  southward.  Farther 
eastward  are  the  deeply  indented  shores  of  the  wide 
Gulf  of  Sidra,  while  beyond  is  the  Libyan  desert,  ex- 
tending over  to  the  Egyptian  frontier.  Before  700 
B.  C.,  the  enterprising  Phoenicians  had  founded  on 
these  coasts  three  great  cities  —  CEa,  Sabrata,  and 
Leptis  Magna,  and  from  these  the  region  became 
known  as  Tripolitana.  Later,  (Ea,  which  was  be- 
tween the  two  others,  was  made  the  capital  of  a 
province,  that  was  then  called  Tripolis,  or  "  the  three 
cities,"  thus  combined  into  one,  and  this  name  has 
been  retained  since  the  Roman  times.  Tripoli  is 
consequently  one  of  the  oldest  places  in  the  world, 
and  its  business  stability  has  been  largely  due  to  its 
advantageous  position  on  the  sea  coast  over  against 
Sicily,  and  at  the  northern  termination  of  the  great 
historic  caravan  routes,  leading  into  the  heart  of 
Africa,  and  to  the  various  oases  of  the  eastern  ^Sahara 
and  Libyan  deserts.  The  province  is  composed  of 


256  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

a  strip  of  fertile  soil  adjacent  to  the  sea,  with  ex- 
tensive sandy  plains,  and  parallel  chains  of  rocky 
mountains  inland,  which  are  extensions  of  the  Atlas 
ranges  coming  over  from  Tunisia.  The  city  of 
Tripoli  is  on  a  promontory,  forming  the  southwest 
side  of  a  small  crescent-shaped  bay,  that  is  partly 
sheltered  from  the  northern  winds  coming  across  the 
Mediterranean,  by  a  chain  of  low  reefs.  The  road- 
stead is  shallow,  while  the  bar  makes  it  inaccessible 
for  vessels  of  very  deep  draught.  A  partly  crum- 
bling crenellated  enceinte  wall  surrounds  the  older 
town,  in  the  form  of  an  irregular  pentagon;  and  a 
line  of  small  half-ruined  forts  is  supposed  to  pro- 
tect one  side  of  the  harbor,  and  the  governor's  old- 
time  castle,  the  other.  There  is  a  population  es- 
timated at  thirty  thousand  within  the  walls,  and 
about  an  equal  number  of  semi-nomad  Arabs  and 
negro  freedmen  in  the  suburban  districts  outside. 
The  desert  almost  touches  the  city  on  its  western 
verge,  while  to  the  eastward  spreads  the  verdant  and 
fertile  oasis  of  Meshiga,  with  a  nomadic  population 
who  pay  great  respect  to  the  tombs  there,  of  the 
ancient  Tripolitan  beys  and  their  sultanas.  Within 
the  city  are  several  prominent  mosques,  of  which  six 
have  lofty  and  attractive  minarets  built  in  Turkish 
style.  There  is  not  much  to  attract,  however;  it  is 
a  typical  Moorish  city,  with  narrow,  dirty  and  un- 
paved  streets. 

Southward  from  Tripoli,  to  which  it  is  tributary, 


TRIPOLI  257 

and  enclosed  all  around  by  the  Sahara,  is  Fezzan,  the 
ancient  Phazania,  the  land  of  the  Geramentes.  It 
is  an  extensive  region,  and  practically  a  desert,  al- 
most barren  of  vegetation  because  of  the  want  of 
moisture  and  the  great  heat.  With  ill-defined 
boundaries,  it  extends  southward  from  latitude  31  °N 
to  23 °N.  The  depressed  table  land  of  Moorzook 
occupies  the  central  and  southern  portion  of  the  dis- 
trict, being  at  a  lower  level  than  the  surrounding 
desert.  Moorzook  has  about  three  thousand  popula- 
tion and  is  the  Sultan's  place  of  residence.  Fezzan 
has  the  reputation  of  intense  heat  in  summer,  the 
mercury  sometimes  rising  to  133°.  It  has  no  run- 
ning streams  of  water,  rain  seldom  falls,  and  the 
climate  is  unhealthy  for  Europeans.  As  the  caravan 
route  from  the  coast  to  the  interior  of  Africa  passes 
through,  the  people  depend  upon  this  trade  for  a  live- 
lihood. It  requires  about  twenty-five  days  for  a  cara- 
van to  traverse  the  route  from  Tripoli  to  Moorzook 
and  forty  days  more  to  go  on  to  Cairo.  The  natives 
are  mostly  Berbers,  who  have  very  little  idea  of 
arithmetic,  and  reckon  everything  by  making  dots 
in  the  sand,  ten  in  a  line,  with  Spanish  coins  and 
grain  as  their  medium  of  exchange.  The  Koman 
proconsul  of  Africa,  before  the  Christian  era,  Cor- 
nelius Balbus,  penetrated  into  Phazania,  and  it  dis- 
plays many  remains  of  the  Roman  occupation,  in  the' 
form  of  columns  and  mausoleums.  The  Arabs  got 

possession  in  the  seventh  century,  and  it  has  since 
VOL.  1—17 


258  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

been  generally  tributary  to  some  Moslem  potentate, 
the  present  allegiance  to  Tripoli  beginning  in  1811. 
It  has  been  a  favorite  haunt,  in  more  recent  times, 
of  exploring  African  travellers,  though  they  do  not 
seem  to  have  gleaned  much  information  or  trophies 
of  special  interest,  and  chiefly  report  the  great  heat. 
To  the  eastward  of  the  deeply  indented  Gulf  of 
Sidra  is  Barca,  which  was  the  ancient  Cyrenaica,  its 
western  boundary  being  the  Syrtes  Major.  This  in 
its  early  history  was  one  of  the  most  flourishing  colo- 
nies of  the  Greeks,  Battus,  a  Dorian  from  the  island 
of  Thera,  having  founded  the  original  settlement  of 
Cyrene  in  the  seventh  century  B.  C.,  his  dynasty 
ruling  for  more  than  two  hundred  years.  It  after- 
ward was  subject  to  Egypt  and  then  became  a 
province  of  the  Byzantine  empire,  being  conquered 
by  the  Arabs  in  541.  Barca  extends  eastward  to  the 
frontier  of  Egypt,  and  its  southern  border  fades  into 
the  great  Libyan  desert.  There  are  about  400,000 
people  in  the  country,  generally  Berbers  and  nomadic 
Arabs.  The  northwestern  district,  toward  the  coast, 
is  elevated  and  fertile  with  a  healthy  climate,  but 
the  remainder  of  the  surface  is  sandy,  barren,  and 
gradually  merges  by  an  indefinite  boundary  into  the 
desert.  The  Barcan  beys  are  tributary  to  Tripoli. 
Its  most  important  town  is  Benghazi,  on  the  north- 
western coast,  the  ancient  Berenice,  at  the  southern 
extremity  of  a  headland  projecting  into  the  Gulf  of 
Sidra,  which  formerly  enclosed  a  spacious  natural 


TRIPOLI  259 

harbor,  now  filled  up  and  almost  inaccessible  for 
large  vessels.  Northeastward  from  Benghazi,  the 
coast  abounds  in  extensive  ruins  left  by  the  ancient 
civilizations.  Here  was  the  old  town  of  Ptolemais, 
which  passed  away  after  the  second  century,  the 
place  being  now  a  collection  of  ruins  known  as 
Tolmata.  Farther  eastward  is  Mersa  Susa,  the  an- 
cient Apollonia,  which  was  the  port  of  Gyrene,  now 
Grenna,  to  the  southward.  This  port  it  is  proposed 
to  restore,  there  having  been  removed  to  the  healthy 
and  fertile  adjacent  district,  many  of  the  Turkish 
inhabitants  of  the  island  of  Crete,  who  were  dissatis- 
fied with  its  modern  government.  The  famous  city 
of  Cyrene,  was  built  upon  a  high  plateau  about  nine 
miles  inland  from  the  coast  at  Apollonia,  being 
founded  around  a  copious  fountain,  the  native  name 
of  which  was  Cyre.  The  spring  supplied  the  settle- 
ment with  water,  and  was  consecrated  to  Apollo. 
There  are  still  visible  extensive  ruins  of  streets,  tem- 
ples, theatres,  tombs,  art  remnants,  a  vast  necropolis, 
and  the  road  over  the  rocky  plateau  connecting  the 
city  with  the  harbor.  Cyrene  was  at  the  height  of 
its  prosperity  in  the  time  of  Herodotus,  and  then 
covered  an  extensive  surface,  its  ruined  walls  and 
towers  having  a  circuit  of  five  miles.  Here  flour- 
ished the  Cyrenaic  school  of  philosophy,  founded  in 
the  fourth  century  B.  C.  by  Aristippus,  who  taught 
that  personal  enjoyment  was  the  highest  object,  and 
that  virtue  consisted  in  producing  the  greatest  pos- 


260  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

sible  development  of  agreeable  feelings,  by  living 
with  a  moderate  activity,  in  the  enjoyment  of  art 
and  literature,  and  the  careful  avoidance  of  pain. 
The  astronomer  Eratosthenes  was  a  native  of  Gyrene. 

THE    VAST    SAHARA. 

We  have  thus  traced  the  Barbary  Coast  from  the 
Atlantic  eastward  to  the  borders  of  Egypt,  and  find 
that  the  fertile  districts  fringing  the  Mediterranean 
shore,  everywhere,  as  they  extend  southward,  gradu- 
ally merge  into  the  vast  African  desert.  This  great 
Sahara  occupies  an  area  of  over  2,100,000  square 
miles,  stretching  across  northern  Africa,  from  the 
Atlantic  three  thousand  miles  to  the  Valley  of  the 
Nile,  with  a  width  of  about  a  thousand  miles  from 
the  Barbary  states  southward  to  the  Soudan.  The 
sterile  region  is  renewed  eastward  of  the  Nile,  and  it 
extends  northward  into  Algeria  along  the  southern 
base  of  the  Atlas,  closely  approaching  the  Mediter- 
ranean coast  west  of  the  Gulf  of  Gabes.  Here  are 
extensive  marshy  sections  known  as  Shotts,  which 
constitute  a  basin,  into  which,  as  it  is  at  a  lower  level, 
a  plan  has  been  projected  for  admitting  the  waters 
of  the  sea  by  a  canal.  There  are  also  continuations 
of  the  Sahara,  extending  east  and  north,  through 
Arabia,  Persia  and  Central  Asia,  into  Mongolia, 
terminating  there  in  the  desert  of  Gobi.  Extensive 
tracts  of  treeless  pasture  lands  skirt  the  northern 
Sahara  boundary  along  the  base  of  the  greater  Atlas 


THE  VAST  SAHARA  261 

ranges,  and  the  desert  also  reaches  the  Mediterranean 
shore  on  the  Gulf  of  Sidra.  Rain  is  unknown  in 
this  great  desert,  excepting  in  the  oases  and  the  bor- 
dering mountain  regions,  and  a  climate  of  burning 
aridity  pervades.  When  rain  falls  on  the  borders 
on  rare  occasions,  it  is  with  such  violence  as  to  pro- 
duce torrents,  suddenly  pouring  through  the  valleys 
and  as  suddenly  disappearing.  The  Sahara  sterility 
is  attributable  to  the  fact  that  the  northeastern  trade 
winds,  blowing  over  its  surface  —  the  prevailing  air 
currents  —  bring  it  no  moisture,  having  been  almost 
drained  of  vapor  in  their  long  journey  over  Europe 
and  Asia.  These  winds  deposit  on  the  Atlas  moun- 
tains, south  of  the  Mediterranean,  more  moisture 
than  they  have  collected  in  their  brief  passage  over 
that  sea,  and  when  they  reach  the  heated  desert  be- 
yond, where  the  absorptive  capacity  of  the  air  is 
greatly  increased  by  the  higher  temperature,  they 
actually  carry  away  moisture  instead  of  bringing  it, 
and  this  is  not  condensed  into  clouds  and  rains,  until 
the  wind  currents  reach  the  colder  surface  of  the 
mountains  of  Central  Africa.  The  Sahara  is  subject 
to  the  highest  temperature  on  the  globe,  the  mercury, 
as  in  Fezzan,  reaching  133°.  This  terrific  heat, 
with  the  loose  and  burning  sands,  imparts  their 
dreaded  characteristics  to  the  two  hot  and  deadly 
winds  blowing  off  the  desert,  the  sirocco  and  the 
simoom.  The  sirocco  is  a  southeastern  wind  of  a 
suffocating  and  parching  heat,  which  at  intervals,  es- 


262  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

pecially  in  spring  and  autumn,  blows  with  violence 
from  the  Sahara,  over  the  Mediterranean  coast  and 
islands  and  southern  Italy,  continuing  for  two  or 
three  days,  and  sometimes  for  a  week,  with  most 
pernicious  influence  on  animal  and  vegetable  life. 
It  is  hottest  in  Malta  and  Sicily,  though  generally 
of  short  duration  on  these  islands.  While  having 
little  effect  either  on  temperature  or  barometer,  the 
sirocco  produces  a  sensation  of  terrible  heat  and  suffo- 
cation, copious  perspiration  and  general  prostration. 
The  even  more  deadly  simoom  gets  its  name  from  the 
Arabic  word  somma  "  to  poison."  It  is  a  hot,  dry 
wind,  characterized  by  excessive  heats  and  suffocat- 
ing effects,  often  fatal  to  animal  life,  but  rarely  last- 
ing over  an  hour.  During  its  prevalence,  the  people 
of  oases  shut  themselves  up  in  their  houses,  and 
those  who  are  on  the  desert  go  into  tents  or  pits. 
The  parching  heat  is  derived  from  the  sands,  which 
are  whirled  up  by  the  advancing  wind,  and  the  air 
is  filled  with  an  extremely  penetrating  and  subtle 
dust.  When  this  deadly  wind  blows  in  squalls,  death 
is  often  suddenly  produced  by  actual  suffocation  with 
severe  hemorrhages.  Persons  exposed  to  it,  protect 
themselves  by  stopping  the  nose  and  mouth  with 
handkerchiefs,  and  the  camels  instinctively  bury  their 
nostrils  in  the  sands. 

The  surface  of  the  Sahara  presents  an  alternative 
of  immense  burning  wastes  of  loose  and  moving 
sands,  with  plains  of  stony  gravel  and  tracts  of  bar- 


THE  VAST  SAHARA  263 

ren  rock,  much  of  it  covered  with  salt  deposits. 
There  are  elevated  and  rocky  plateaus,  rising  into 
mountains,  with  spreading  valleys  and  great  expanses 
of  sand  between  them.  The  Sahara  has  an  average 
elevation  above  sea  level,  estimated  at  fifteen  hun- 
dred feet,  although  in  many  places  the  surface  is  de- 
pressed far  below  the  ocean.  The  most  mountainous 
portion  is  along  the  caravan  routes  from  Tripoli 
southward  and  southeastward,  where  the  culminating 
summits  are  in  the  mountains  of  the  Asbea  oasis, 
rising  5,000  feet.  The  desolate  region  of  the  west- 
ern Sahara,  known  as  Saliel  or  "  the  plain,"  has  the 
greatest  expanse  of  sand  and  salt  desert.  Its  hills 
stretch  out  to  the  Atlantic,  and  it  has  but  few  oases 
and  these  are  small,  there  being  little  travel  over  it. 
Eastward  of  Fezzan,  the  Sahara  is  known  as  the 
Libyan  desert,  being  comparatively  level,  and  sloping 
toward  the  Mediterranean  with  a  gentle  descent,  and 
here  the  oases  are  most  numerous.  Despite  the 
difficulties  of  travel,  the  desert  is  being  constantly 
crossed  in  all  directions  by  caravans  of  traders  on 
various  routes.  The  theory  of  the  geologist  is  that 
at  one  time  a  large  portion  of  the  Sahara  was  sub- 
merged beneath  the  sea.  Marine  shells  have  been 
discovered  south  of  the  Atlas,  and  lines  of  sea  beach 
are  traceable,  showing  that  in  a  not  very  remote  geo- 
logical period  these  plains  were  an  ocean  bed.  Sir 
Charles  Lyell  has  said  that  the  Sahara,  between  20° 
and  30°  north  latitude,  was  under  water  during  the 


264:  THE  MEDITERKANEAN 

glacial  epoch,  so  that  then  there  was  a  water  con- 
nexion between  the  southern  part  of  the  Mediterra- 
nean, and  the  Atlantic  ocean  west  of  the  African  coast. 
A  project  has  been  formed  for  converting  this  part 
of  the  Sahel,  covering  about  126,000  square  miles, 
into  an  inland  sea,  by  cutting  a  canal  through  the 
fringe  of  sandhills,  forming  the  western  desert  border 
south  of  Morocco. 

The  oasis  is  the  relief  for  the  desert,  and  these  at- 
tractive places  are  the  beloved  havens  of  the  wander- 
ing Arabs  who  slowly  cross  the  sands.  The  name  of 
the  oasis  is  derived  from  the  Coptic  word  Uah  signi- 
fying an  inhabited  place,  and  was  the  title  given 
anciently  to  the  fertile  spots  where  the  caravans 
stopped.  They  were  then  supposed  to  be  islands  ris- 
ing from  an  ocean  of  sand,  but  in  fact  they  are  gen- 
erally depressions  in  the  midst  of  a  table  land,  resting 
usually  on  a  bed  of  limestone,  whose  precipitous  sides 
encircle  the  hollow  plain,  in  the  centre  of  which  is 
a  stratum  of  sand  and  clay,  retaining  the  waters  flow- 
ing from  the  surrounding  cliffs.  Most  of  the  best 
known  oases  are  in  the  Libyan  desert,  in  fertile  tracts 
supporting  a  moderate  population,  and  nearly  all 
having  an  extensive  growth  of  date  palms  and  also 
grain  fields.  These  Libyan  oases  were  early  occu- 
pied by  the  Greeks  and  Romans,  and  usually  then 
were  places  of  banishment  for  State  criminals,  while 
afterward  they  became  refuges  from  persecution. 
There  are  a  multitude  of  small,  and  more  than  thirty, 


THE  VAST  SAHARA  265 

large  oases  in  the  Sahara,  about  twenty  being  in- 
habited, the  best  known  being  in  the  Libyan  desert, 
over  toward  the  Egyptian  frontier. 

Perhaps  the  most  famous  oasis  is  Siwah,  the  an- 
cient Ammonium,  in  the  disputed  Libyan  territory 
between  Tripoli  and  Egypt,  about  one  hundred  and 
sixty  miles  from  the  Mediterranean  and  three  hun- 
dred and  thirty  miles  west-southwest  of  Cairo. 
There  are  several  detached  fertile  tracts,  the  princi- 
pal being  about  eight  miles  long  and  three  miles 
wide.  The  surface  is  undulating  and  rises  to  the 
northward  into  high  limestone  hills.  There  are 
numerous  springs  and  ponds,  both  salt  and  fresh,  the 
climate  being  delightful,  and  the  land  very  fertile, 
with  the  chief  product  dates.  The  people  are  all 
Moslems,  and  are  Berbers  and  negroes,  there  being 
about  eight  thousand  of  them,  and  they  are  tributary 
to  Egypt.  There  are  various  villages,  the  chief  be- 
ing Siwah  el-Kebir,  defended  by  strong  walls,  with 
the  citadel  crowning  a  rock,  divided  into  an  upper 
and  a  lower  town,  the  streets,  as  in  all  Moorish  towns, 
being  irregular  and  narrow.  It  is  said  that  no  stran- 
ger is  admitted  to  the  upper  town,  nor  are  the  native 
bachelors  permitted  to  live  there.  This  was  the  an- 
cient site  of  the  famous  spring  — "  the  fountain  of 
the  sun  " —  whose  waters  were  cold  at  noon,  and  hot 
at  evening,  midnight  and  morning,  and  here  was  the 
temple  of  Jupiter  Ammon.  The  ruins  of  this  tem- 
ple, now  called  Om  Baydah,  are  about  three  miles 


266  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

southeast  of  the  village,  there  being  among  the  re- 
mains various  sculptures  of  Ammon,  with  the  deline- 
ations of  the  ram-headed  goat.  Nearby  is  the  pool, 
which  is  supposed  to  be  the  ancient  fountain,  springs 
copiously  feeding  the  basin  which  is  about  three 
hundred  feet  in  circumference.  The  waters  are  said 
still  to  be  warmer  by  night  than  by  day,  and  they  are 
heavier  than  those  of  the  Nile.  There  are  other 
ruins  in  the  neighborhood,  with  Greek,  Roman  and 
Egyptian  inscriptions.  In  the  olden  time,  this  oasis 
was  celebrated  as  the  seat  of  the  oracle  of  Ammon, 
and  besides  the  temple,  with  its  images  of  Jupiter 
Ammon  set  with  precious  stones,  it  had  a  royal  castle 
surrounded  by  three  walls.  The  great  Cambyses 
made  an  unsuccessful  attempt  to  take  the  temple,  and 
331  B.  C.  Alexander  the  Great  marched  over  the 
desert  to  visit  the  oracle,  and  the  priest  addressed 
him  as  the  son  of  the  god  Jupiter.  The  Emperor 
Justinian  built  here  a  Christian  church,  but  every- 
thing now  is  Moslem.  To  the  southeast  of  Siwah  is 
the  ancient  Oasis  Minor,  now  Bahryeh,  which  has 
temples  and  tombs  belonging  to  the  era  of  the 
Ptolemies.  This,  in  the  Roman  times,  was  famed 
for  its  wheat,  but  now  produces  chiefly  fruits. 
Farther  south  is  the  Oasis  Trinytheos,  the  modern 
Dahkel,  which  has  Roman  remains.  Still  farther 
south,  and  about  ninety  miles  west  of  the  Nile,  is  the 
largest  of  all,  the  Oasis  Magna,  the  modern  Khargeh, 
which  stretches  over  a  surface  eighty  miles  long  and 


THE  VAST  SAHARA  267 

ten  miles  broad.  This  is  sometimes  called  the  Oasis 
of  Thebes,  which  is  to  the  northeast.  Josephus  called 
it  "the  Oasis,"  and  Herodotus  "the  City  Oasis" 
and  the  "  island  of  the  blessed."  There  was  an  an- 
cient temple  of  great  size  here,  dedicated  to  Am- 
mon-Ea,  and  after  the  Christian  era  it  became  noted 
for  the  number  of  its  churches  and  monasteries. 

In  the  western  Sahara,  the  most  important  oasis  is 
Tafilet,  which  in  reality  is  a  number  of  separate  oases 
that  have  numerous  fortified  Arab  villages  enclosed 
by  walls,  and  inhabited  by  a  warlike  race  of  fanatical 
Moslems.  This  oasis  is  situated  southeast  of  the 
Atlas  mountains,  on  the  borders  of  Morocco  and  the 
Sahara,  the  population  being  estimated  at  a  hundred 
thousand.  In  1648,  a  ruler  of  Tafilet  founded  the 
dynasty  which  now  attempts  to  govern  Morocco,  but 
the  present  chiefs  of  the  oasis  are  usually  in  opposi- 
tion to  the  Moroccan  Sultan,  defying  his  authority. 
It  is  a  fertile  region,  watered  by  two  rivers,  both 
losing  themselves  in  the  desert  sands  outside  its  bor- 
ders. Rain  seldom  falls.  Grain  is  raised  on  the 
banks  of  the  rivers  and  there  are  extensive  planta- 
tions of  date  palms,  producing  the  best  dates  of  the 
Sahara,  which  are  in  demand  everywhere.  Large 
flocks  of  sheep  and  goats  are  kept,  and  woolens  and 
carpets  are  woven.  There  also  are  mines  of  lead 
and  antimony.  The  capital,  Abuam,  which  has  the 
largest  market  in  the  western  Sahara,  is  about  two 
hundred  and  forty  miles  east-southeast  from  Morocco 


268  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

City.  There  is  a  good  trade  with  Algeria,  and  twice 
a  year  an  immense  caravan  crosses  the  desert  to  Tim- 
buctoo,  a  thousand  miles  southward.  Another  great 
oasis,  almost  in  the  centre  of  the  western  Sahara,  is 
Tuat,  composed  of  five  large  groups  of  green  spots, 
with  one  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  Arab  and 
negro  population.  It  raises  opium,  tobacco  and  cot- 
ton, as  well  as  grain.  This  group,  controlled  by  the 
French,  is  about  eight  hundred  miles  south  of  Al- 
giers. The  French  control  is  gradually  covering  the 
whole  of  the  Western  Sahara.  The  wandering  tribes 
of  the  Tauregs,  the  special  nomads  of  the  desert, 
whose  tradition  says  they  came  originally  from 
Canaan,  are  the  race  of  Arabs  whose  bands  are  chiefly 
found  in  this  part  of  the  Sahara.  They  are  bold, 
warlike  and  predatory,  living  mostly  on  booty  and 
tribute  levied  on  caravans  crossing  the  desert,  and 
they  have  given  the  French  endless  trouble.  They 
possess  excellent  firearms  and  go  about  always  with 
veiled  faces,  riding  swiftly  on  their  meharis  or  long- 
legged  racing  camels.  Until  the  French  adopted 
these  swift  camels  for  their  cavalry,  they  were  utterly 
unable  to  cope  with  the  Tauregs,  but  now  they  can 
move  with  the  same  celerity  as  these  wily  nomads, 
and  can  overtake  and  circumvent  them.  Thus  many 
of  these  wild  bands  have  been  tamed  and  brought 
into  subjection.  The  French  are  gradually  estab' 
lishing  stations  at  various  points  in  the  desert,  and 
are  contemplating  an  extension  of  the  railway  south- 


THE  VAST  SAHARA  269 

ward  beyond  Biskra  and  Touggourt,  to  Tuat,  and 
possibly  ultimately  across  the  Sahara  to  Timbuctoo. 
The  Sahara,  while  a  burning  desert  waste,  is  only 
so  because  of  the  want  of  water.  If  water  could  be 
supplied  in  ample  volume  this  would  become  one  of 
the  earth's  most  luxuriant  gardens.  Its  soil  is  highly 
charged  with  fertilizers,  and  the  Arabs  say  that  if 
you  will  plant  a  stick  in  the  desert  and  water  it,  you 
will  soon  have  a  tree.  The  hopes,  however,  of  chang- 
ing the  desert,  can  hardly  be  realized,  until  some  nat- 
ural phenomenon  may  intervene  to  produce  moist 
winds  and  copious  rains.  The  Arab  nomads  will 
probably  continue  indefinitely  as  its  inhabitants,  and 
it  will  be  a  long  while  before  the  two  or  three  months' 
caravan  journey  between  the  Barbary  States  and  the 
Soudan  can  be  replaced  by  a  railway  train  crossing 
in  three  or  four  days.  The  picturesque  Arab  is  en- 
abled to  wander  over  the  wastes  of  the  Sahara,  only 
by  the  assistance  of  his  patient  servant,  the  camel, 
which  has  been  well  termed  in  the  florid  oriental 
style,  the  "  ship  of  the  desert."  Its  clumsy-looking 
wide-spreading  feet,  prevent  it  from  sinking  too  far 
into  the  sand,  and  they  give  it  an  elastic  and  silent 
gait  that  is  peculiar  to  itself.  Its  nostrils  may  be 
closed  at  will,  to  exclude  the  wind-driven  sands  of  the 
deadly  simoom.  The  hump  on  the  back  is  a  store- 
house of  food,  which  is  slowly  reabsorbed  during  the 
long  marches,  and  protects  it  from  starvation  in  the 
unavoidable  privations  of  the  desert  journeys.  It 


270  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

is  also  able  to  fill  interior  cavities  of  the  stomach 
with  water,  to  the  amount  of  several  quarts,  thus  car- 
rying within  itself  a  supply  for  its  own  wants  that 
will  last  without  replenishment  about  a  week,  and 
which  it  occasionally  yields  with  its  life  to  save  its 
master.  Thus  this  patient  and  most  wonderful  ani- 
mal has  enabled  the  desert  to  be  explored  and  trav- 
ersed, and  has  given  mankind  probably  the  best 
lessons  known  of  exemplary  patience  and  protracted 
endurance  to  hardships.  To  those  who  traverse  the 
Sahara's  trackless  wastes  the  absence  of  moisture  is 
probably  the  most  impressive,  and  it  recalls  Byron's 
lines  in  Don  Juan: 

Till   taught   by   pain, 
Men  really  know  not  what  good  water's  worth; 

If  you  had  been  in  Turkey  or  in  Spain, 

Or  with  a  famished  boat's  crew  had  your  berth, 

Or  in  the  desert  heard  the  camel's  bell, 
You'd  wish  yourself  'where  Truth  is  —  in  a  well. 


THE  IBERIAN  SHORE 


IV 
THE  IBERIAN  SHOEE 

The  Iberi — Almeria — Aguilas — Lorca — Cape  Palos — La  Union 
— Cartagena — The  Despoblado — Murcia — Torreviej  a — The 
Segura — Orihuela — Elche — Alicante — Kingdom  of  Valencia 
— Irrigation  Works — Alcoy — Concentaina — Monte  Mongo — 
Denia — Gandia — Jativa — The  Borgias — The  Albufera — Va- 
lencia— Sagunto — Segorbe — Almenara — Villareal  —  Castellon 
Peniscola — Morella — Uldecona — Cape  Tortosa — The  Ebro — 
Tortosa — Alcaniz — Imperial  Canal  of  Aragon — Saragossa 
— St.  James — Virgin  del  Pilar — Maid  of  Saragossa — Cata- 
lonia— Tarragona — Reus — Lerida — Cardona — Montana  de  Sal 
— Montserrat — Barcelona — The  Bull  Ring — Besos  Valley — 
Vich — Ripoli — Gerona — The  Ampurdan — Figueras — Gulf  de 
Rosas — Emporise — The  Pyrenees. 

AL.MEBIA    AND    CABTAGENA. 

Eastward  from  the  Rock  of  Gibraltar  to  Cape 
Gata,  and  then  northeast  past  Cape  Palos,  the  Med- 
iterranean coast  of  Spain  stretches  seven  hundred 
and  seventy  miles  to  the  Pyrenees  and  the  French 
boundary.  From  Gibraltar  to  Cape  Palos  it  is 
mostly  a  rocky  shore  with  little  elevation,  but  has  in 
the  background  the  noble  summits  of  the  snow-capped 
Sierra  Kevada  range  set  boldly  against  the  northern 
sky.  Beyond  the  cape,  the  coast  line  is  alternately 
high  and  low,  part  of  it  lined  with  lagoons,  along 
VOL.  1—18  273 


274  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

which  are  various  salt  works.  Eastward  from 
Malaga,  the  coast  borders  the  province  of  Al- 
meria,  to  its  deeply  indented  bay  where  Cape  Gata 
forms  the  eastern  buttress.  The  Phoenicians  were 
the  first  to  visit  these  shores,  and  they  were  soon  fol- 
lowed by  the  Greeks,  who  established  colonies,  and 
found  the  primitive  inhabitants  to  be  the  tribes  whom 
they  named  the  Iberi,  and  thus  this  region  came  to  be 
the  Iberian  shore,  a  title  afterward  extended  over  the 
whole  Spanish  peninsula.  These  Iberi  were  the  peo- 
ple of  Spain  at  the  dawn  of  history,  and  in  the  earli- 
est period  of  which  tradition  has  told,  and  they  then 
gave  the  rivers,  mountains  and  towns  many  of  the 
names  they  still  bear.  They  were  a  fierce  race, 
whose  power  and  characteristics  were  never  entirely 
broken  by  any  of  the  numerous  invading  peoples  that 
in  subsequent  times  occupied  the  rest  of  the  country, 
and  they  laid  the  foundation  for  the  proud  and  brave 
Castilian  race.  The  Celts  also  came  early  and  oc- 
cupied the  mountainous  districts  of  central  Spain, 
first  fighting  and  then  uniting  with  the  Iberians  of 
the  coast,  to  form  the  race  known  as  Celtiberians. 
The  Greeks  upon  their  arrival  settled  Saguntum  in 
Valencia  and  Emporise  on  the  northeastern  coast  of 
Catalonia,  soon  commingling  with  the  native  Iberians, 
who  were  then  active  in  commerce  with  the  Cartha- 
ginians across  the  Mediterranean  Sea.  Their  coun- 
try's chief  fame  in  the  early  days  was  its  riches  in 
gold,  silver,  copper  and  other  metals,  and  the  people 


ALMERIA  AND  CARTAGENA  £75 

were  diligent  miners  and  noted  for  artistic  skill  in 
working  precious  metals.  They  had  a  language  and 
an  alphabet,  and  also  made  their  own  coinage,  many 
of  these  ancient  coins  being  still  preserved  in 
museums.  The  great  river  of  the  Iberian  shore,  the 
Iberus,  is  now  the  Ebro  flowing  eastward  into  the 
Mediterranean  at  Cape  Tortosa. 

The  display  of  Iberian  wealth  attracted  the  Cartha- 
ginians, and  they  came  over  from  Africa  to  occupy 
the  country  and  found  colonies  on  the  coast,  led  by 
their  generals  Hamilcar  and  Hasdrubal.  This  inva- 
sion was  not  relished,  and  the  Iberians  and  Greeks  of 
Saguntum  and  other  places  asked  the  Romans  to  help 
them.  The  result  soon  produced  the  first  Punic  War 
between  Home  and  Carthage,  and  led  finally  to  the 
famous  siege  and  destruction  of  Saguntum  by  Han- 
nibal 219  B.  C.,  which  opened  the  second  Punic  War, 
the  end  of  which  was  the  expulsion  of  the  Carthagin- 
ians from  Spain.  Then  came  the  era  of  Roman 
domination  over  the  Iberians,  accompanied  by  va- 
rious revolts  and  contests,  but  in  the  period  immedi- 
ately preceding  Christian  times,  they  began  gradually 
adopting  the  Roman  manners,  dress  and  language, 
and  ultimately  became  an  integral  part  of  the  Roman 
empire.  As  a  race,  however,  they  were  always  re- 
nowned for  their  unyielding  disposition  and  obstinate 
courage,  which  are  prominently  the  Castilian  charac- 
teristic now. 

Down  out  of  the  Sierra  Nevada  through  a  most 


276  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

picturesque  valley  rushes  the  swift  Almeria  torrent, 
its  lower  intervale  broadening  into  one  of  the  most 
fertile  and  luxuriant  vegas  in  southern  Spain.  The 
extensive  province  of  Almeria,  through  which  it  flows, 
is  broken  by  mountains  and  ravines,  containing  mines 
of  silver,  lead,  copper  and  coal,  making  it  rich  in 
minerals,  so  that  mining  is  a  prominent  industry, 
though  the  mines  are  still  usually  worked  in  a  most 
primitive  way,  and  the  delvers  in  them  to-day  learn 
that  they  had  been  worked  in  a  remote  age,  there  be- 
ing found  the  round  shafts  anciently  operated  by  the 
Phoenicians  and  the  square  shafts  of  the  Moors.  The 
fertile  vegas  in  the  valleys  are  well  irrigated  by  sys- 
tems originally  established  by  the  Moors,  and  it  is 
said  these  irrigation  canals  and  waterwheels  remain 
substantially  as  then  in  most  cases,  and  thoroughly 
overcome  the  prolonged  droughts  that  prevail  nearly 
every  summer  in  the  districts  of  Malaga  and  Almeria. 
The  river  flows  into  the  deeply  indented  Gulf  of 
Almeria,  and  at  the  embouchure,  about  a  hundred 
miles  east  of  Malaga,  is  the  ancient  city  of  Almeria, 
formerly  the  chief  port  on  this  coast,  and  a  very  pros- 
perous city  in  the  Moorish  era.  Environed  by  high 
mountains,  which  rise  over  6,500  feet  in  the  back- 
ground, this  city  is  beautifully  situated,  the  enclosing 
Sierra  running  off  at  a  height  of  1,680  feet  toward 
the  southeast,  where  it  terminates  in  the  bounding 
buttress  of  the  bay  on  that  side,  the  ponderous  Cape 
Gata.  The  Iberians  were  established  here  when  the 


ALMERIA  AND  CARTAGENA  277 

town's  history  began,  and  their  successors,  knowing 
the  importance  of  the  port,  made  it  prosperous  in  the 
days  of  the  Carthaginians  and  the  Romans,  the  latter 
calling  it  Urci.  It  grew  in  wealth  under  the  Moors, 
and  for  three  centuries  the  Christians  tried  to  capture 
it.  Alfonso  VII  of  Castile  briefly  held  it  in  the 
twelfth  century,  but  it  was  not  finally  taken  until 
1481,  when  Ferdinand  the  Catholic  captured  it,  the 
last  stronghold  of  El  Zagal  of  Granada.  An  ancient 
Moorish  Alcazaba,  with  impressive  towers  enlarged 
by  the  Spaniards,  and  a  partly  decayed  Castle  of  St. 
Christopher,  dominate  the  town,  where  there  are 
about  fifty  thousand  population.  There  is  a  massive 
cathedral  built  like  a  fortress,  with  embattled  walls 
and  belfry  tower,  and  castellated  apse,  a  work  of 
Charles  \7;  and  the  principal  mosque  is  now  super- 
seded by  the  Church  of  San  Pedro.  The  harbor  is 
small,  but  safe,  and  from  it  are  shipped  large  amounts 
of  ores  from  the  mines,  and  fruits  and  nuts  from  the 
luxuriant  vega,  including  enormous  consignments  of 
the  famous  Almeria  grapes. 

Rounding  the  ponderous  Cape  Gata,  the  coast 
trends  northeast,  and  is  a  series  of  cliffs,  fronting  the 
Sierras  which  stretch  for  miles,  until  finally  they  re- 
cede from  the  shore,  and  here  is  the  port  of  Aguilas, 
whence  are  exported  various  cargoes  of  the  mineral 
output  of  these  mountains.  In  the  interior,  behind 
the  coast  ranges,  is  Lorca,  finely  situated  on  their 
northwestern  slopes  and  having  sixty  thousand  people. 


278  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

This  was  the  Roman  Eliocroca,  a  name  which  the 
Moorish  successors  condensed  into  Lorca,  and  in  the 
midst  of  the  narrow  streets  and  crowded  houses  of  the 
older  town  rises  the  Moorish  castle.  Here  came  the 
robust  king  Alfonso  in  1244  and  captured  the  place 
from  the  Moors,  the  city  arms  displaying  his  bust  and 
a  tower,  named  from  him  the  Alfonsina.  The  mines 
and  the  vineyards  give  the  people  employment.  To 
the  eastward  of  Lorca,  the  foothills,  which  are  the 
last  of  the  Sierra  Nevada  ranges,  stretch  out  toward 
the  sea,  and  prolong  the  coast  into  the  protruding 
Cape  Palos,  surmounted  by  an  excellent  lighthouse. 
From  this  there  extends  northward  a  flat  sand-spit 
with  some  rocky  islets  for  about  twenty-five  miles, 
which  enclose  the  extensive  salt  lagoon  of  the  Mar 
Menor,  spreading  back  for  a  width  of  about  twelve 
miles  to  the  higher  level.  To  the  southward,  and  be- 
hind Cape  Palos,  there  is  a  deep  bay  among  the  hills, 
and  here  is  the  noted  port  and  Spanish  naval  strong- 
hold of  Cartagena.  About  five  miles  away,  and  en- 
closed in  the  Sierra  de  Cartagena,  which  terminates 
in  Cape  Palos,  is  La  Union,  the  port  of  that  extensive 
mining  district  which  sends  out  silver,  lead,  tin  and 
large  amounts  of  manganese  and  iron  ores.  A  popu- 
lation of  thirty  thousand  are  employed  in  these 
mines,  which  were  known  to  the  Carthaginians  and 
the  Romans,  and  were  visited  and  described  by  Poly- 
bius  in  the  second  century  B.  C. 

The  Iberians  were  here  from  time  immemorial, 


ALMERIA  AND  CARTAGENA  279 

and  in  their  trading  with  the  Carthaginians  across 
the  sea,  the  fame  of  the  silver  and  other  mines  be- 
came a  marvel.  This  led  Hasdrubal,  the  son-in-law 
and  successor  of  Hamilcar,  to  come  over  from  Car- 
thage and  explore  the  region.  He  found  a  harbor 
much  resembling  that  of  his  own  capital,  and  admir- 
ing the  situation,  took  possession  and  established  at 
the  Iberian  settlement  the  New  Carthage,  221  B.  C., 
which  afterward  became  a  Roman  stronghold,  the 
Kartadjena  of  the  Moors  and  the  Spanish  Cartagena. 
This  was  intended  to  be  the  new  royal  capital,  and 
the  citadel  of  Carthaginian  power  in  Iberia,  and  they 
held  it  until  it  was  captured  by  the  Romans  under 
Scipio  Africanus  Major,  about  twelve  years  later. 
Polybius  came  with  Scipio  the  younger  in  151  B.  C., 
and  has  left  an  accurate  description  of  the  town  and 
harbor,  its  castle  of  Hamilcar  Barca  and  the  Temple 
of  Esculapius.  The  Romans  made  it  the  richest 
and  largest  town  of  their  province  of  Hispania,  and 
a  colony,  and  it  was  one  of  the  last  supports  of  the 
Byzantine  empire  in  Spain,  being  successfully  de- 
fended, in  the  later  sixth  century,  against  the  attacks 
of  the  barbarians.  The  Moors,  however,  ultimately 
got  possession,  and  held  it  until  Jaime  I  of  Aragon 
became  the  captor  in  1276.  Cardinal  Ximenes 
sailed  from  Cartagena  in  1509,  for  his  attack  on 
Oran  and  Algiers  on  the  Barbary  coast,  and  the  Eng- 
lish admiral  Drake  sacked  it  in  1585.  The  town 
had  many  Roman  and  other  ancient  inscriptions,  but 


280  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

they  have  been  mostly  removed  to  the  Madrid 
Museum.  The  old  harbor,  which  resembles  that  of 
Carthage,  is  now  the  Darsena  or  Basin  of  the 
Arsenal,  this  being  the  chief  attraction  of  the  city, 
and  an  extensive  naval  construction  of  the  later 
nineteenth  century.  High  hills  surround  the  town, 
and  the  deeply  indented  bay  into  which  this  basin 
opens  is  well  protected  by  forts.  On  either  side  of 
the  entrance,  rise  the  Hill  of  Galeras,  650  feet, 
crowned  by  a  castle,  and  the  Castle  of  St.  Julian,  920 
feet,  both  being  precipitous  volcanic  cliffs,  sur- 
mounted by  strong  forts.  Upon  the  former  was  an- 
ciently the  Castle  of  Hamilcar  Barca,  and  upon  the 
latter  the  Temple  of  Esculapius.  Alongside  the 
Arsenal  is  the  hill  of  the  Conception,  230  feet,  cov- 
ered with  many  ruins,  and  having  on  the  summit  and 
slope  the  strongest  of  the  forts,  completely  command- 
ing the  harbor  entrance  in  front.  To  the  northeast, 
in  the  background,  is  another  fort,  the  Castle  of  the 
Moors,  while  on  either  side  of  the  city  are  more  de- 
tached forts.  Escombrera  island  off  the  entrance, 
the  ancient  Scombraria,  or  "  place  of  mackerel  fish- 
ing," makes  a  complete  natural  protective  breakwater. 
There  are  probably  100,000  people  in  this  Spanish 
naval  stronghold  of  the  Mediterranean. 

MURCIA   AND   ALICANTE. 

To  the  northward   from   Cartagena,   the   railway 
traverses  the  plain,  and  runs  between  the  hills  and 


MURCIA  AND  ALICANTE  281 

the  extensive  Mar  Menor,  gradually  mounting  the 
Sierra ;  and  crossing  it  through  the  low  Pass  of  San 
Pedro,  the  route  goes  over  an  elevated  despoblado. 
This  is  a  waste  surface  of  hill,  moor  and  saltmarsh, 
in  which  this  region  abounds,  for  we  have  come  into 
Murcia,  the  province  known  as  the  reino  serenissimo, 
one  of  the  brightest,  but  at  the  same  time,  hottest 
districts  of  Spain.  Its  summer  temperature  will 
rise  frequently  to  110°  or  120°  Fahrenheit,  while 
the  winters  are  cold  with  severe  frosts  that  destroy 
the  young  plants  in  early  spring.  Its  scanty  water 
supply  and  general  barrenness  are  due  to  its  south- 
eastern location,  being  swept  by  the  parching  sirocco 
coming  across  the  Mediterranean  from  the  Sahara. 
This  wind,  known  locally  as  Leveche,  is  most  stifling 
and  enervating,  covering  everything  with  dust,  and 
causing  men  and  animals  to  sink  exhausted.  It 
makes  the  calina,  or  heat-haze,  which  in  summer 
girdles  the  horizon,  gradually  extending  over  the 
firmament,  and  not  disappearing  until  October.  It 
also  produces  the  treeless  surfaces  and  these  despo- 
blados,  which  grow  only  saltwort  and  esparto  grass, 
and  cover  most  of  the  region.  There  are  some  fer- 
tile vegas  in  the  valleys,  maintained  by  irrigation, 
the  chief  being  along  the  Segura,  the  only  river  of 
any  size,  which  flows  out  from  the  Sierra  Morena, 
or  Brown  Mountains  of  the  interior,  through  this 
province  to  the  sea.  The  chief  occupations  of  the 
people  are  mining  and  the  making  of  salt  and 


282  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

soda,  a  large  part  of  the  mountain  districts  be- 
ing honeycombed  with  silver,  lead,  iron  and  other 
mines.  So  rich  was  the  silver  product  in  ancient 
times,  that  tradition  tells  how  the  Phoenicians,  when 
their  ships  were  full-laden,  made  their  anchors  of  sil- 
ver so  as  to  carry  more.  The  province  has  a  large 
population  of  .  Moorish  descent,  and  is  styled  the 
Spanish  Breotia,  it  being  a  native  proverb  that  Adam 
on  his  return  to  earth  found  here  his  old  home  in  un- 
changed condition  —  el  cielo  y  suelo  es  Tsueno,  el  en- 
tresuelo  malo  — "  while  the  sky  and  soil  are  good, 
all  between  is  evil,"  Descending  from  the  despo- 
blado,  the  railway  approaches  the  valley  of  the 
Segura,  and  turning  westward  reaches  the  city  of 
Murcia,  stretching  broadly  along  the  river,  in  a  fer- 
tile, well  cultivated  and  irrigated  district. 

The  Iberians  early  made  a  settlement  on  the  Tader, 
as  the  river  was  anciently  called,  flowing  off  toward 
the  northeast  through  the  beautiful  and  blooming 
huerta  thirty  miles  to  the  sea.  It  grew,  but  was  not 
known  much  in  history  until  the  Moorish  era,  they 
calling  the  river  Shekura,  whence  comes  its  present 
name,  and  the  town  Medinet  Mursiya.  The  Moors 
were  conquered  by  Ferdinand  III  in  1243,  and  since 
then  it  has  been  Christian,  while  presenting  a  semi- 
oriental  character,  and  it  has  gathered  a  population 
of  over  one  hundred  thousand.  The  city  has  a  fa- 
mous cathedral  —  Santa  Maria  —  a  Gothic  structure 
begun  in  1358  on  the  site  of  a  mosque,  its  elaborate 


MURCIA  AND  ALICANTE  283 

tower  rising  four  hundred  and  eighty  feet,  the  sum- 
mit giving  a  splendid  view  along  the  valley  of  the 
Segura  and  the  guarding  mountains  to  the  north- 
ward, with  the  beautiful  Fuensanta  mountain  and  its 
convent  to  the  south.  This  cathedral  tower  is  the 
prominent  landmark  in  all  views  of  approach  to  the 
city.  The  cathedral  facade  is  an  attractive  baroque 
work  of  the  eighteenth  century.  The  structure  has 
a  lofty  Renaissance  dome,  and  in  the  Capilla  Mayor 
is  a  casket  containing  the  heart  of  King  Alfonso 
the  Learned.  There  is  a  large  gypsy  settlement  in 
the  western  suburbs,  and  the  Segura,  which  falls  over 
a  dam  and  provides  water  power  for  some  mills,  is 
skirted  by  the  Malecon  or  quay,  which  is  the  finest 
public  promenade,  though  strangely  lacking  shade 
trees  in  a  climate  where  the  summer  heat  is  known 
to  rise  to  120°.  This  quay  has  however  its  use,  in 
protecting  from  river  inundations  a  large  expanse 
of  lowlands  where  are  orange  groves,  palms  and 
gardens.  Hot  as  are  the  Murcia  summers,  the  win- 
ters however  are  not  tempered  as  effectively  as  in 
the  regions  more  nearly  adjoining  the  sea.  Being 
back  in  an  environment  of  mountains,  the  winter 
mercury  often  falls  below  freezing,  and  the  cold 
mistral  or  north  wind  is  very  piercing.  Young 
plants  have  to  be  well  protected  against  frost  in  the 
early  spring  and  the  fig  and  other  trees  seldom  put 
forth  leaves  before  late  in  March.  Up  the  Segura 
towards  the  northwest,  about  twelve  miles  away,  is 


284  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

the  Roman  Ilorci,  where  the  Scipios  were  defeated 
by  Masinissa ;  and  farther  up,  where  the  river  breaks 
through  the  mountain  ranges,  are  valuable  sulphur 
mines,  which  were  worked  by  the  Romans  and  are 
now  the  property  of  the  Spanish  government.  In 
this  region  are  extensive  plantations  of  esparto  grass, 
the  leaves  being  used  for  paper  manufacture,  ropes, 
matting  and  baskets. 

Northeastward  from  Murcia,  the  railway  into  the 
sea  coast  kingdom  of  Valencia  proceeds  through  the 
rich  Tiuerta,  following  down  the  Segura,  which  ulti- 
mately seeks  the  sea  to  the  eastward.  Below  its 
mouth,  and  behind  the  Cape  of  Carvera,  with  an 
environment  of  salt  lagoons,  is  the  little  seaport  of 
Torrevieja.  Alongside  the  Segura,  on  the  edge  of 
the  Tiuerta :>  rises  the  majestic  Monte  Agudo,  which  is 
reproduced  in  the  Murcia  huerta's  heraldic  emblem, 
a  massive  mountain  of  trap  rock,  thrust  boldly  up 
from  the  plain,  and  surmounted  by  a  Moorish  castle 
in  ruins.  There  rises  to  the  northwest  of  Murcia, 
with  the  Segura  washing  its  base,  the  Sierra  Orihuela, 
and  spreading  along  the  river  bank  about  fourteen 
miles  from  Murcia,  is  the  Moorish  Oryul,  now  the 
Spanish  Orihuela,  where  thirty  thousand  people  get 
their  living  from  the  rich  meadows,  fields  and  gar- 
dens adjoining  the  river  —  the  famous  Segura 
huerta,  of  which  the  Spaniards  say  llueva  o  no  llueva, 
trigo  a  Orihuela  — "  rain  or  no  rain,  there  is  wheat 
in  Orihuela."  On  the  hillside  overlooking  the  town 


MURCIA  AND  ALICANTE  285 

is  another  ruined  Moorish  castle.  The  ancient 
Moorish  town  of  Callosa  is  on  the  elevation  beyond 
the  Orihuela  grain  fields,  and  has  many  of  its  primi- 
tive dwellings  built  into  the  rocks  likes  caves.  Be- 
yond, from  the  northward,  the  rapid  Vinalapo  comes 
down  out  of  the  mountains,  seeking  the  sea,  but 
losing  most  of  its  waters,  when  the  tide  is  up,  in  a 
lagoon,  the  Albufera  de  Elche,  of  fresh  water.  Here 
is  the  town  of  Elche,  near  the  river  above  the  lake, 
and  one  of  the  purest  of  the  original  Moorish  settle- 
ments remaining  in  Spain,  its  narrow  streets,  white- 
washed, windowless  dwellings,  minarets,  domes, 
palms,  and  even  the  faces  of  the  people,  recalling  the 
Arabic  ancestry,  whose  buildings  and  habits  still 
survive.  Its  fame  comes  from  the  palm  grove  ad- 
joining the  town,  irrigated  by  the  Vinalapo  waters, 
which  are  gathered  in  a  pantano  or  reservoir,  within 
the  mountain  gorge  about  three  miles  northward,  and 
then  led  through  a  maze  of  canals  to  do  the  work  of 
irrigation,  continued  to-day  just  as  it  was  done  by 
the  Moors  centuries  ago. 

This  town  was  the  Iberian  Helike  and  the  Roman 
Ilici,  and  here  the  Carthaginian,  Hamilcar  met  de- 
feat at  the  hands  of  the  sturdy  inhabitants.  It  has 
a  church  of  Santa  Maria  with  a  beautiful  blue-tiled 
dome,  and  an  elevated  tower  which  visitors  ascend 
to  overlook  the  famous  palm  grove.  In  the  latter  are 
over  a  hundred  thousand  date  palms,  many  being 
more  than  eighty  feet  high,  planted  in  rows  at  in- 


286  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

tervals  of  about  six  or  seven  feet,  with  running  water 
all  about  and  under  them,  and  standing  as  the  Arabs 
say,  "  their  feet  in  water,  their  head  in  the  fire  of 
heaven."  A  tree  will  produce  a  crop  of  about 
seventy-five  pounds  of  dates,  bearing  each  alternate 
year,  and  ripening  in  the  winter.  The  palm  leaves 
are  cut  for  Easter,  made  up  into  bundles  which  are 
blessed  by  the  priests,  and  sent  to  the  faithful 
throughout  Spain,  who  fasten  them  to  buildings  as 
a  sure  preventive  of  damage  by  lightning.  This 
palm  grove  extends  a  considerable  distance  eastward 
from  Elche,  and  beyond  it  was  the  necropolis  of  the 
Ilici,  who  anciently  peopled  this  district,  that  has 
yielded  various  antiquities.  We  have  now  come  into 
the  Kingdom  of  Valencia,  and  its  southern  province 
of  Alicante,  which  stretches  northward  from  the 
Segura.  The  whole  of  this  region  was  originally 
under  the  sea,  but  the  process  of  upheaval  made  it 
dry  land,  along  the  coast,  with  an  inland  border  of 
rugged  and  weatherworn  mountains,  denuded  of 
trees,  and  almost  without  water.  A  few  streams 
emerge  upon  the  plains,  and  their  scant  outflow  is 
at  once  damned  fo»  irrigation,  being  gathered  in  the 
mountain  gorges  during  the  winter  and  spring,  and 
saved  for  use  in  the  parched  summer  and  autumn. 
Thus  by  artificial  means  a  desert  is  reclaimed,  and 
exuberant  crops  in  the  valley  Jiuertas  reward  the  in- 
dustrious people. 

The  railway  reaches  the  sea  coast  northeast  of 


MURCIA  AND  ALICANTE  287 

Elche,  and  runs  along  it  to  the  provincial  capital  of 
Alicante.  Two  protruding  capes  enclose  a  small 
bay  opening  toward  the  south,  and  here  a  harbor 
has  been  made  by  the  aid  of  a  couple  of  long  moles, 
while  on  the  northeastern  verge,  and  dominating  the 
city,  is  a  high  and  rocky  brown  and  almost  bare  hill, 
surmounted  by  the  frowning  Castle  of  Santa  Bar- 
bara, at  an  elevation  of  over  five  hundred  feet,  and 
seen  from  afar.  Its  environment  is  a  maze  of  walls, 
buildings  and  bastions,  the  slopes  everywhere  over- 
grown with  cactus.  It  is  an  ancient  fortification, 
and  has  a  grand  view  over  the  town,  stretching  off 
from  the  base  of  the  hill  to  the  encircling  mountains, 
and  displaying  the  fertile  lowlands  and  the  Mediter- 
ranean coast,  extending  far  away  to  the  distant  Cape 
Palos.  The  Iberians  and  the  Romans  both  fortified 
this  hill,  the  Roman  settlement  of  Lucentum  being 
a  little  to  the  north,  while  the  Moors  made  their  port 
of  Lekant,  down  on  the  shore  of  the  bay,  where  the 
city  now  is.  There  is  a  population  of  fifty  thousand, 
and  they  export  fruits,  oil,  liquorice,  esparto  grass 
and  also  the  noted  wines  of  Alicante,  which  are  grown 
in  neighboring  vineyards  and  include  the  Fondellol, 
the  heady  Aloque  and  Moscatel.  The  harbor  is 
fronted  by  the  most  attractive  promenade,  the  Paseo 
de  los  Martires,  which  is  an  avenue  of  double  rows 
of  closely  planted  date  palms.  The  chief  church  is 
dedicated  to  the  patron-  saint  of  the  province,  San 
Nicholas  de  Bari,  begun  in  1616,  but  still  unfinished. 


288  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

There  is  a  fertile  district  all  about  Alicante, 
thoroughly  irrigated  from  the  mountain  streams, 
their  waters  gathered  by  capacious  dams  in  the  gorges. 
The  chief  of  these  is  the  Pantano  de  Tibi,  in  the  gorge 
of  the  Cosco,  a  tributary  of  the  Castella,  which  flows 
a  short  distance  northward  of  Alicante.  A  wall 
sixty  feet  thick,  and  nearly  one  hundred  and  fifty 
feet  high,  built  about  two  hundred  and  forty  feet 
across  the  canyon,  thoroughly  intercepts  the  waters 
of  the  stream,  which  are  doled  out  during  the  dry 
season,  and  taken  by  canals  over  to  the  huerta.  Here 
are  still  seen  the  compuertas,  or  ancient  Moorish 
sluice-gates.  Near  the  sea,  and  about  two  miles  to 
the  northeast  of  Alicante,  is  the  Convent  of  Santa 
Clara,  which  contains  as  a  precious  relic  the  Santa 
Faz,  one  of  the  three  napkins  which  St.  Veronica,  at 
Jerusalem,  used  to  wipe  the  Saviour's  face  before  the 
Crucifixion,  the  others  being  in  the  Cathedral  of  Jaen 
and  in  Rome. 

THE    KINGDOM    OF    VALENCIA. 

The  district  of  Spain,  stretching  along  the  Med- 
iterranean coast,  northeastward  from  the  Segura 
to  the  Ebro,  is  the  most  fertile  and  one  of  the  most 
populous  regions  of  the  monarchy.  It  was  united 
with  Aragon  in  the  thirteenth  century,  but  was 
specially  permitted  to  retain  its  ancient  title  of  the 
"  Kingdom  of  Valencia."  It  embraces  the  narrow 
littoral  plains,  between  the  Spanish  central  plateau 


THE  KINGDOM  OF  VALENCIA  289 

and  the  coast,  through  which  a  score  of  rivers  of 
various  calibres  flow  out  of  the  hills  to  the  sea. 
Xature  made  it  almost  a  desert,  by  the  influence  of 
the  prevalent  dry  winds  coming  over  from  Africa, 
that  brought  much  heat  with  little  moisture,  but  the 
industrious  Moors,  who  long  held  it,  dammed  up  the 
rivers  at'the  outlets  of  the  hill  gorges,  and  by  a  com- 
plete system  of  irrigation,  conveyed  their  waters 
through  thousands  of  channels  over  the  lowlands, 
making  a  veritable  garden  land  which  their  succes- 
sors have  developed  in  the  highest  degree.  The 
contrast,  between  the  irrigated  and  non-irrigated 
surfaces,  is  that  of  the  oasis  and  the  desert,  the  former 
raising  crops  of  exuberant  fertility;  and  the  necessi- 
ties of  the  dense  population,  approximating  two  mil- 
lions, have  compelled  the  most  rapid  agricultural 
system,  crops  being  raised,  by  successive  rotations, 
several  times  a  year,  while  the  luxuriant  alfalfa  is 
made  to  rapidly  grow,  and  yield  a  dozen  to  fifteen 
times  in  the  twelvemonth.  The  strongest  fertilizers 
are  liberally  applied ;  wheat  sown  in  November  is 
reaped  in  June ;  rice  is  then  planted  and  inundated, 
being  soon  harvested,  when  the  land  is  planted  in 
grain,  fodder,  or  root  crops ;  and  thus  the  rapid  rota- 
tion goes  on.  The  Arab  originally  said,  what  the 
Spanish  proverb  now  repeats :  "  ^ralencia  is  a  land 
of  God ;  rice  grows  to-day  where  yesterday  was  corn." 
The  Jiuertas  display  expansive  and  monotonous  fields 

of  wheat  in  the  spring,  followed  by  vast  plantations 
VOL.  1—19 


290  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

of  rice  in  the  lower  grounds,  with  diversified  orange 
and  palm  groves,  and  apricot,  mulberry  and  almond 
trees. 

The  country  is  dotted  with  towns  and  villages, 
and  irrigation  canals  flow  everywhere,  though  the 
Valencian  prefers  rain  if  it  can  be  got,  saying  "  the 
water  of  Heaven  is  the  best  irrigation."  There  are 
few  rainy  days  in  this  region,  and  the  rainfall 
averages  but  sixteen  to  nineteen  inches  in  a  year,  the 
air  being  very  dry  and  the  winter-sky  usually  an 
unclouded  blue.  Much  of  the  rain  is  in  sudden  and 
torrential  downpours,  that  run  away  in  destructive 
freshets.  The  four  most  noted  exports  of  the  dis- 
trict, other  than  cereals,  are  the  naranjas,  or  famous 
Valencia  oranges,  the  stemless  Valencia  raisins,  the 
palms  of  Elche  and  the  wines  of  Alicante.  Its  peo- 
ple, while  descended  from  the  original  Iberians,  the 
Greeks,  Carthaginians  and  Romans,  who  successively 
held  the  country,  are  also  largely  Moorish,  and  to 
this  ancestry  they  owe  their  agricultural  skill  and 
industry.  The  Moors  held  it  practically  from  the 
early  eighth  century,  until  the  conquest  by  the  King 
of  Aragon  in  1238,  excepting  a  brief  tenure  by  the 
Cid,  at  the  end  of  the  eleventh  century.  When 
united  with  Aragon,  the  kingdom  had  a  population 
mostly  of  full-blooded  Moors,  with  a  mixed  race  of 
the  Mozarabs,  who  were  Christians  that  had  adopted 
the  Arab  customs  and  languages,  and  for  use  in  their 
churches  had  to  have  the  Bible  translated  into  Arabic. 


THE  KINGDOM  OF  VALENCIA  291 

In  the  later  years,  many  of  the  Moors  nominally  be- 
came Christians,  but  in  the  terrible  persecutions  of 
the  early  seventeenth  century  fully  two  hundred  thou- 
sand of  these  Moriscoes  were  sent  into  exile. 

Northeastward  from  Alicante,  the  mountainous 
region,  out  of  which  the  little  streams  flow  down  that 
furnish  the  water  supplies,  is  projected  far  into 
the  sea,  in  the  double  capes  of  Nao  or  St.  Martin  and 
San  Antonio.  The  rocky  strata  extend  under  the 
Mediterranean  as  a  submarine  ridge  still  farther 
northeastward,  reappearing  in  the  isles  of  Ibiza  and 
Formentera  of  the  Pityuse  archipelago,  and  beyond 
them  in  the  extensive  group  of  the  Balearic  islands. 
Over  the  Sierra,  to  the  northward  of  Alicante,  is  the 
factory  town  of  Alcoy,  on  the  hillside  overlooking  the 
Alcoy  vale,  a  fertile  region,  for  which  this  group  of 
mills  makes  woolen  fabrics,  paper  for  cigarettes  and 
some  iron  manufactures.  Farther  down  the  valley 
is  ancient  Concentaina,  still  surrounded  by  old 
Roman  walls  which  the  Moors  rebuilt,  and  having 
the  interesting  tower-surmounted  Palace  of  the  Duke 
of  Medinaceli.  Out  on  the  sea-front  of  the  Sierras, 
is  the  noble  and  almost  isolated  Monte  Mongo,  rising 
2,500  feet,  at  first  by  gentle  ascent  from  the  west 
toward  the  east,  the  huge  mass  of  limestone  then 
falling  off  abruptly  to  the  sea,  this  termination  being 
Cape  San  Antonio  with  its  lighthouse.  On  the  top 
there  is  a  building  in  ruins,  where  Arago  and  his 
companions  made  various  scientific  observations  at 


292  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century.  A  superb 
view  is  had  from  the  summit,  over  the  extensive  in- 
land mountain  ranges  that  run  parallel  with  the  coast, 
and  across  the  blue  sea  to  the  distant  Balearic 
islands. 

Deep  down  at  the  northern  base  of  this  mountain, 
flows  the  little  Vergel  river,  its  waters  mostly  drawn 
off  for  irrigation,  and  on  the  hill  slopes  all  around 
are  raised  the  fruitful  Valencia  raisins.  Here  is 
Denia,  the  port  whence  these  raisins  are  shipped  to 
America  and  England.  This  is  one  of  the  most 
ancient  settlements  of  the  Valencian  coast,  the 
Grecian  Hemeroskopeion,  founded  upon  an  earlier 
Iberian  settlement,  said  to  have  been  originally 
colonized  by  the  Phoenicians.  When  the  Romans 
came  they  called  it  Dianium,  and  built  their  castle 
on  top  of  the  hill,  around  which  the  town  now 
clusters  on  the  slopes.  There  are  remains  of  the 
Roman  and  Moorish  town  walls,  and  also,  on  the 
hillside,  a  remnant  of  the  Temple  of  Diana  said  to 
have  been  built  in  imitation  of  that  at  Ephesus. 
The  Romans  made  it  a  naval  station,  and  the  Moors 
held  it  afterward,  when  it  was  a  most  prosperous  city 
with  fifty  thousand  people.  It  was  captured  by  the 
Christians  in  the  thirteenth  century,  but  the  harbor 
afterward  silted  up  with  sand,  restricting  trade,  and 
the  expulsion  of  the  Moriscoes  also  gave  a  serious 
setback.  It  suffered  many  sieges,  the  last  and  one 
of  the  most  famous,  being  the  brave  defence  by  the 


THE  KINGDOM  OF  VALENCIA  293 

French  garrison  in  1813,  where  they  held  the  castle, 
now  in  ruins  on  the  hilltop,  during  five  months  of 
almost  incessant  bombardment,  until,  reduced  to 
about  one  hundred  almost  starved  survivors,  they 
capitulated  with  all  the  honors  of  war,  and  were  al- 
lowed to  go  in  freedom.  Its  houses  are  Moorish, 
their  flat  tops  and  whitewash  being  picturesque 
among  the  green  foliage  of  the  hill  slopes,  while  the 
outlook  everywhere  displays  fascinating  views. 

About  fifteen  miles  to  the  northwest,  the  river 
Alcoy  flows  into  the  sea,  with  the  little  harbor  of  El 
Crao  at  its  mouth,  the  port  for  Gandia,  which  is 
about  two  miles  up  the  stream.  In  Valencia,  famous 
for  the  fertility  of  its  well-irrigated  river  valleys, 
this  vale  of  the  Alcoy  is  noted  as  the  richest  and 
most  populous  huerta,;  and  Gandia  is  its  chief  town. 
High  above  rise  the  striking  peaks  of  the  Monduve, 
elevated  2,800  feet.  In  the  early  times  this  place 
gave  the  title  to  the  Dukes  of  Gandia,  and  their 
former  palace  is  one  of  its  show  places.  These  Dukes 
were  of  the  family  of  Borgia,  who  lived  here  and  at 
Jativa,  among  the  hills  to  the  westward,  an  Iberian 
town  which  became  the  Roman  Saetabis,  and  then 
made  linens,  which  elicited  the  warm  praises  of 
Pliny,  when  he  visited  Hispania.  The  Borgias 
originated  at  the  town  of  Borja,  where  their  ances- 
tral castle  still  exists,  among  the  desolate  mountains 
adjoining  the  Ebro,  some  distance  above  Saragossa. 
They  came  down  to  Jativa  and  Gandia,  a  more 


294  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

prosperous  region,  acquired  wealth  and  power, 
entered  the  church,  and  gave  it  two  popes,  in  the 
fifteenth  century,  Alfonso  Borgia,  who  was  Pope 
Calixtus  III,  and  Rodrigo  Borgia,  Pope  Alexander 
VI.  The  latter  had  the  notorious  Caesar  Borgia  for 
his  natural  son,  and  Lucretia  Borgia  for  his  natural 
daughter.  Another  son  of  Pope  Alexander,  Juan 
Borgia,  who  was  Duke  of  Gandia,  had  for  his  son 
San  Francisco  de  Borgia,  who  became  head  of  the 
Jesuit  order  in  the  sixteenth  century.  Caesar  Borgia 
being  expelled  from  Rome  in  1504,  went  to  Naples, 
but  the  "  Gran  Capitan "  Gonsalvo  of  Cordova, 
acting  for  King  Ferdinand,  sent  him  a  prisoner  to 
the  Castle  of  Jativa.  He  escaped  to  France  two 
years  later,  taking  refuge  with  the  King  of  Navarre, 
and  was  slain  in  battle  in  1507. 

To  the  northward,  the  river  Jucar,  the  most  con- 
siderable stream  in  this  region,  the  Sucro  of  the 
Romans,  flows  out  to  the  sea,  through  a  pleasant  and 
well  tilled  intervale,  with  many  orange  and  palm 
groves,  and  an  extensive  surface  of  rice  swamps. 
High  above  rises  the  Sierra  de  Cullera,  having  on 
top  a  conspicuous  chapel  of  the  Virgin,  and  the  ruins 
of  a  castle.  Just  beyond  the  mouth  of  the  Jucar,  is 
the  most  extensive  lake  in  Spain,  the  Albufera  of 
Valencia,  extending  about  ten  miles  just  at  the  edge 
of  the  sea,  from  which  it  is  divided  by  the  narrow 
strip  of  land,  formed  of  pine-covered  sand  dunes 
nowhere  over  twenty  feet  high,  which  is  called  the 


THE  KINGDOM  OF  VALENCIA  295 

Dehesa.  This  lake  has,  on  the  inner  side,  a  curving 
shore  stretching  about  eighteen  miles,  and  its  name 
comes  from  the  Arabic  Al-buheraf  meaning  a 
"  lagoon."  The  waters  have  long  been  fresh,  but 
this  is  said  to  be  the  last  relic  of  the  sea  which 
originally  covered  the  coastal  plain  of  Valencia. 
Reed-banks  and  rice  fields  adjoin  the  lake,  and  it  is 
connected  by  a  canal  with  the  sea,  the  waters  having 
numerous  fish  and  waterfowl.  In  1812,  Xapoleon 
gave  this  lake  to  Marshal  Suchet,  who  captured  the 
Valencian  shore  for  France,  at  the  same  time  making 
him  the  Due  de  Albufera.  It  is  Spanish  govern- 
ment property,  but  leased  to  a  company  that  pumps 
the  waters  from  various  stations,  mainly  to  irrigate 
the  adjoining  rice  fields. 

The  Arab  Wad-al-abyad,  or  the  "  White  river," 
so  ^called  from  the  color  of  the  detritus  it  brought 
down  from  the  mountains,  is  now  the  Guadalaviar 
river,  popularly  shortened  into  the  Turia,  and  it 
comes  from  the  northwestward  to  the  sea,  through  the 
fertile  huerta  of  Valencia.  Here  is  the  great  city 
of  the  Valencian  kingdom,  about  two  miles  from  the 
coast,  which  has  over  two  hundred  thousand  popula- 
tion and  a  large  commerce.,  conducted  from  its 
harbor  at  the  river's  mouth,  the  Grao,  thus  named 
from  the  Latin  Gradus,  or  the  "  step  "  to  the  sea. 
This  harbor,  on  the  northern  side  of  the  river,  is 
sheltered  by  two  large  breakwaters,  and  is  divided 
into  an  outer  and  an  inner  basin.  Six  thousand 


296  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

vessels  will  call  here  annually,  the  chief  exports 
being  rice,  oranges,  raisins  and  wine,  but  the  foreign 
trade  is  lessening  through  the  competition  of  other 
ports.  The  city  spreads  broadly  upon  the  Southern 
river  bank  (the  bed  being  usually  dry)  the  brilliant 
tiled  domes  of  its  churches,  in  blue,  gold  and  white, 
rising  above  the  mass  of  houses  in  its  narrow  busy 
streets,  adding  to  the  oriental  appearance,  while 
over  all  is  the  deep  blue  sky  of  sunny  Spain.  The 
Moors  were  very  proud  of  Valencia,  calling  it 
Medenat-al-turat  the  "  city  of  the  fertile  soil,"  and 
in  their  florid  style  had  an  ancient  proverb,  which 
translated  means,  "  one  would  take  it  for  a  piece  of 
heaven  upon  earth."  Its  climate  is  mild  and  very 
dry,  most  of  the  winds  bringing  heat  without  mois- 
ture, and  only  the  east  wind,  coming  along  the  axis 
of  the  Mediterranean,  providing  rain.  Its  great 
festival  day  is  April  5th,  the  day  upon  which  its 
patron  saint  was  baptized,  St.  Vincent,  born  in  1419 
in  a  house  that  is  still  preserved  as  a  chapel,  the 
martyred  saint  being  canonized  in  1455.  It  was  a 
Roman  settlement,  taken  and  destroyed  in  the  wars 
between  Sertorius  and  Pompey,  but  rebuilt  by 
Augustus,  though  there  are  only  sparse  remains  of 
Roman  walls  and  gates.  The  Moors  made  its 
greatest  prosperity,  and  it  was  the  capital  of  their 
Valencian  kingdom,  which  extended  along  the  Med- 
iterranean from  Almeria  to  the  Ebro.  Valencia  was 
taken  by  the  Cid  in  1095,  but  after  his  death  the 


THE  KINGDOM  OF  VALENCIA  297 

Moors  recovered  it,  and  it  was  not  finally  secured  by 
the  Christians  until  1238,  when  Jaime  I  of  Aragou 
took  possession.  Suchet  captured  it  for  the  French 
in  1812,  his  reward  from  Napoleon  being  the 
Albufera  Lake  and  Dukedom,  but  the  English  took  it 
the  next  year.  The  first  printing  press  in  Spain  is 
said  to  have  been  used  in  Valencia  in  1474,  and  its 
chief  recent  event  was  the  signing  by  Queen 
Christina  of  her  abdication  of  the  Spanish  throne,  in 
October,  1840.  The  ancient  city  walls  erected  by  the 
Moors  were  removed  in  1871,  and  replaced  by  fine 
boulevards,  two  of  the  old  gates,  however,  being  pre- 
served. The  oldest  is  the  North  Gate,  near  a  bridge 
crossing  the  river,  for  the  northern  road,  to  Sagunto, 
the  Torres  de  Serranos,  two  massive  towers  flanking 
a  central  structure  in  Gothic,  and  resting  on  Roman 
foundations.  It  is  now  a  city  prison  and  has  been 
well  restored.  This  was  built  in  the  fourteenth 
century,  and  the  other  old  gate,  erected  about  one 
hundred  years  later,  is  the  West  Gate,  the  Torres 
de  Cuarte,  also  a  prison,  a  massive  double-towered 
structure. 

The  older  town,  with  its  narrow  and  irregular 
streets,  has  the  cathedral  for  its  centre,  this  being 
the  most  famous  structure  in  Valencia,  La  Seo  the 
name  derived  from  the  Latin  sedes,  "  a  seat,"  and 
dedicated  to  the  Virgin.  Upon  its  site  originally 
stood  the  temple  of  Diana,  which  was  followed  in 
the  later  Roman  time  by  a  Christian  church,  and 


298  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

then  upon  the  Moorish  conquest  by  a  mosque.  After 
the  capture  of  the  city  by  the  King  of  Aragon,  the 
cathedral  was  designed,  the  foundation  laid  in  1262, 
and  it  was  over  two  centuries  building.  The  in- 
terior is  three  hundred  and  twenty  feet  long  and  two 
hundred  feet  wide  across  the  transept,  there  being 
a  nave  and  aisles  and  a  pentagonal  capilla  mayor, 
with  radiating  chapels,  and  an  impressive  Gothic 
bell-tower  of  the  fourteenth  century,  adjoining  the 
main  fagade,  this  being  called  El  Miguelete.  The 
name  comes  from  the  bell,  first  hung  on  the  feast  of 
St.  Michael,  to  commemorate  the  entry  of  Jaime  I 
into  the  city,  which  was  on  September  28,  1238, 
St.  Michael's  eve.  This  bell  is  solemnly  struck  by 
a  hammer  on  the  outside,  and  the  bell-strokes  are 
the  signals  regulating  the  sluices  that  control  the 
flow  of  water  in  irrigating  the  huerta.  The  tower 
is  eight  sided  and  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet 
in  circumference,  while  its  height  is  one  hundred 
and  fifty-two  feet,  the  original  intention  having  been 
to  build  much  higher.  There  is  a  view  from  the  top, 
over  the  flat-roofed  houses  and  beautiful  tiled  domes 
of  the  cathedral  and  other  structures,  the  deep  and 
narrow  streets  looking  like  canyons  in  the  ground. 
The  two  old  city  gates  and  other  towers  are  also  in 
full  view;  while  a  wide  expanse  of  the  neighboring 
country  is  disclosed  almost  all  around  stretching 
over  the  fertile  huerta  and  its  mountain  environ- 
ment, northward  to  the  distant  castle-hill  of  Sagunto, 


THE  KINGDOM  OF  VALENCIA  299 

and  far  across  the  wide  and  placid  waters  of  the 
Albufera  southward,  to  'the  isolated  Monte  Mongo. 
The  tradition  is  that  when  the  Cid  entered  Valencia, 
he  took  his  wife  to  the  top  of  the  Moorish  minaret 
of  the  mosque  that  stood  here,  to  proudly  show  her 
the  paradise  he  had  won.  There  are  attractive 
paintings  in  the  cathedral,  and  among  its  precious 
relics  are  the  Staff  of  St.  Augustine,  the  ivory 
Crucifix  of  St.  Francis  de  Sales,  and  upon  a  pillar 
near  the  high  altar  hangs  the  Armor  of  King  Jaime 
I  of  Aragon,  its  founder. 

Adjoining  the  cathedral  is  the  Plaza  de  la  Seo, 
with  a  tasteful  fountain  and  a  pleasant  garden.  In 
this  Plaza  is  a  semicircular  divan,  whereon  assembles 
the  most  venerable  judicial  institution  of  the  prov- 
ince, the  court  known  as  the  Tribunal  de  Aguas,  or 
the  "  Water  Tribunal."  This  organization  was 
created  during  the  Moorish  era,  and  is  retained  in 
its  original  simplicity  and  honest  methods,  exercising 
full  control  over  all  the  irrigation  districts,  and 
hearing  cases  every  Thursday  by  verbal  procedure. 
The  decision  is  made  as  soon  as  the  litigants  and 
witnesses  testify,  and  the  judgment  is  summary, 
there  being  no  appeal,  and  the  condemned  suitor  re- 
ceiving no  water  for  his  field  until  he  satisfies  the 
judgment.  Peasant  proprietors,  selected  from  each 
district,  compose  the  court.  Fronting  the  Plaza  is 
the  imposing  Audiencia,  which  was  formerly  the 
Chamber  of  Deputies  for  the  Kingdom  of  Valencia. 


300  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

Their  Assembly  Hall  is  a  splendid  apartment,  with 
many  portraits  of  old  dignitaries,  including  works 
by  Zarinena  and  Peralta.  The  Valencian  school  of 
art  flourished  here  from  the  fourteenth  to  the  seven- 
teenth centuries,  and  many  of  their  pictures,  gathered 
chiefly  from  suppressed  convents,  are  displayed  in 
the  Provincial  Museum,  which  occupies  the  building 
of  a  former  convent.  Here  are  works  by  Eibalta, 
Espinosa,  Zarinena,  Peralta,  Velasquez,  Eibera  and 
others,  the  great  artist  of  this  school  being  Jose 
Eibera,  known  popularly  as  Spagnoletto,  who  was 
born  at  Jativa  in  1588,  and  died  in  Naples,  1656. 
He  was  a  pupil  of  Coravaggio,  whose  style  he  fol- 
lowed, excelling  in  gloomy  subjects  and  chiaroscuro. 
Francesco  Eibalta  was  born  at  Castellon  in  1552  and 
lived  until  1628,  and  he  introduced  the  Italian  man- 
ner into  the  Valencian  school.  Eibera  was  his 
pupil  before  going  to  Italy  and  he  also  taught 
Espinosa,  who  was  born  in  1600  and  lived  until  1680. 
The  Museum  contains  a  noble  collection  of  over  fif- 
teen hundred  paintings,  mostly  by  these  older  Valen- 
cian masters  and  their  pupils. 

There  are  other  paintings  by  Eibalta  in  the 
cathedral,  and  the  spacious  Colegio  del  Patriarca,  a 
Eenaissance  structure  which  was  built  in  the  late 
sixteenth  century  by  Juan  de  Eibera,  then  the  Arch- 
bishop and  Viceroy  of  Valencia.  Part  of  this 
structure  is  the  Church  of  Corpus  Christi,  its  dome 
decorated  with  frescoes  representing  the  life  of  St. 


THE  KINGDOM  OF  VALENCIA  301 

Vincent,  while  a  chapel  contains  Ribalta's  painting 
of  the  appearance  of  Christ  and  the  Saints  to  St. 
Vincent  on  his  sick-bed.  Every  Friday  morning,  in 
this  church,  the  Miserere  is  celebrated,  and  ladies 
cannot  attend  unless  dressed  in  mourning  and  wear- 
ing a  mantilla.  Ribalta's  painting  of  the  Last  Sup- 
per, alongside  the  altar,  is  then  lowered  by  machinery, 
and  its  place  taken  by  curtains  in  successive  colors, 
the  last  black  one,  when  removed,  disclosing  the  dying 
Saviour  on  the  cross.  The  Valencian  University  is 
opposite  the  Colegio,  and  is  a  fifteenth  century 
foundation,  which  instructs  about  two  thousand 
students  and  has  a  large  library,  especially  rich  in 
the  romances  of  chivalry.  The  city  front  on  the 
northern  river  bank  is  mostly  occupied  by  the 
Alameda,  the  fashionable  tree-lined  driveway  and 
promenade.  On  the  southern  side,  in  the  Plaza  de 
Tetuan,  is  the  old  citadel,  which  Charles  V  built  to 
resist  the  incursions  of  the  Barbarossa  pirates,  but 
the  French  in  their  attack  in  1812,  destroyed 
most  of  the  structure.  There  remain  a  gateway 
and  tower,  with  other  spacious  buildings,  which  are 
now  artillery  barracks  and  an  arsenal,  and  include 
the  Captain  General's  residence.  The  charming 
pleasure  ground  of  the  Glorieta  adjoins  the  Plaza 
de  Tetuan,  this  being  the  site  of  old  fortifications, 
while  at  the  outer  verge  is  the  spacious  government 
tobacco  factory,  employing  four  thousand  persons, 
nearly  all  women,  who  are  expert  in  making  cigars. 


302       .  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

The  finest  public  square  is  the  Plaza  del  Mercado, 
where  the  picturesquely  costumed  peasantry  attend 
the  morning  markets.  Here  were  held  for  centuries, 
the  public  festivals  and  tournaments,  and  the  tradi- 
tion is  that  the  Cid  buried  alive  the  luckless  pasha 
Ahmed  in  this  square,  when  he  captured  the  town, 
because  the  pasha  would  not  reveal  the  spot  where 
the  Moorish  king  Yahya  had  buried  his  treasures. 
The  Alcazar  faced  its  northern  side,  and  here  lived 
the  Cid's  wife  Ximena.  Its  site  is  now  occupied  by 
the  fine  Gothic  Lonja  de  la  Seda,  the  Silk  Exchange, 
a  construction  of  the  late  fifteenth  century,  recently 
restored.  The  fagade  is  nearly  one  hundred  and 
eighty  feet  long,  with  a  central  tower.  One  wing  is 
a  museum  of  antiquities,  and  the  other  is  ther  Ex- 
change Hall,  the  richly  vaulted  ceiling  borne  by 
rows  of  pillars  looking  like  palms,  while  around  the 
upper  part  of  the  walls,  runs  a  Latin  inscription  re- 
citing that  the  house  was  fifteen  years  building,  and 
that  the  merchant  who  neither  cheats  nor  takes  usury 
will  inherit  eternal  life.  In  the  Valencian  suburbs 
are  the  factories  of  Manises,  making  the  beautiful 
square  glazed  and  brilliantly  colored  tiles,  called 
azulejos,  so  extensively  used  in  adorning  the  build- 
ings ;  and  also  the  Nella  Mosaic  factory  at  Meliana. 
At  Burjasot  northwest  of  the  city  are  the  famous 
Moorish  Mazmorras  which  are  silos  used  as  re- 
ceptacles for  keeping  grain.  There  are  forty-one  of 
these  underground  vaults,  built  like  huge  jars  and 


APPROACHING  THE  EBRO  303 

lined  with  stone,  their  roof,  made  of  blue  and  black 
flagstones,  being  a  popular  promenade  for  the  local- 
ity, which  now  is  a  picnic  ground. 

APPROACHING    THE    EBEO. 

Northward  from  Valencia,  the  railway  crosses  the 
fertile  huerta,  and  with  the  sea  on  the  right  hand,  the 
train  soon  comes  into  full  view  of  the  castle-crowned 
hill  of  ancient  Sagunto,  eighteen  miles  away.  The 
little  river  Palancia  rushes  from  the  mountains  out 
to  the  sea,  in  the  springtime,  but  its  waters  at  other 
seasons  are  drained  off  for  irrigation.  A  mountain 
spur  is  thrust  across  the  Valencian  plain  south  of  the 
river,  its  precipitous  sides  rising  nearly  six  hundred 
feet.  On  the  top  is  the  castle,  while  at  the  northern 
base  along  the  river  is  the  little  town.  It  was  one  of 
the  earliest  Iberian  settlements  on  this  shore,  the 
Greeks  coming  and  mingling  with  the  original  inhab- 
itants, and  the  youthful  Hannibal  essaying  to  take 
it,  219  B.  C.,  so  as  to  restrain  the  progress  of  the 
Romans  who  approached  from  the  northward,  he 
desiring  to  make  it  a  Carthaginian  stronghold.  The 
attack  he  made  upon  the  castle-crowned  hill,  was  one 
of  the  famous  sieges  of  ancient  times.  The  be- 
siegers used  battering  rams,  but  were  repeatedly 
driven  off  and  Hannibal  was  wounded.  The  walls 
were  breached,  but  the  Carthaginians,  after  a  battle 
in  the  streets,  were  driven  out,  and  a  new  wall  built. 
This  too  was  breached,  when  they  built  a  second,  anoT 


304  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

a  third,  and  finally  a  fourth  wall,  across  the  narrow 
ridge,  which  gave  the  only  practicable  approach  to 
the  hilltop  from  the  western  side.  But  the  defend- 
ers gradually  perished  in  these  combats,  and  finally, 
a  handful  only  being  left,  Hannibal,  after  eight 
months'  siege,  entered  and  burnt  the  city,  most  of 
the  remaining  garrison  suffering  a  voluntary  death 
in  the  flames.  This  protracted  siege  began  the  sec- 
ond Punic  War,  and  214  B.  C.  the  Romans  joining 
the  Iberians  took  the  fort,  and  it  was  rebuilt,  being 
known  as  Saguntum.  They  also  constructed  a  cir- 
cus, theatre,  and  temples,  but  the  town  was  never  as 
important  afterward.  When  the  Moors  got  posses- 
sion they  held  it  until  driven  out  by  the  Cid,  and  it 
was  then  called  Murbiter,  from  the  Latin  muri 
veteres,  meaning  "  old  walls,"  and  afterward  became 
Murviedro,  until  recently  the  official  name  was 
changed  to  Sagunto.  In  the  later  centuries,  the  re- 
mains of  the  Roman  buildings  were  used  chiefly  as 
a  quarry  for  modern  constructions,  so  that  an  Arago- 
nese  poet  in  the  seventeenth  century  wrote  about  it 
indignant  lines,  which  translated  read  that  "  with 
marbles  bearing  dignified  inscriptions,  formerly  the 
theatre  and  altars,  they  now  build  in  Saguntum 
taverns  and  pot-houses" —  (tabernas  y  mesones). 

The  ancient  Roman  circus  site,  alongside  the  river, 
is  covered  by  gardens.  It  was  about  fifteen  hundred 
feet  long  and  there  are  some  remains,  including 
traces,  at  the  western  end,  of  a  bridge.  The  theatre 


APPROACHING  THE  EBRO  305 

to  the  southward,  about  half-way  up  the  hill,  is  the 
best  preserved  antique  of  Sagunto.  The  semicircu- 
lar auditorium,  largely  hewn  out  of  the  rocky  hillside, 
was  about  one  hundred  and  sixty-five  feet  in  diame- 
ter and  could  seat  eight  thousand  spectators.  Be- 
hind and  above  the  theatre,  on  the  long  ridgy  summit 
of  the  hill,  is  the  castle,  covering  two  heights  with  a 
depression  between.  The  foundations  are  Roman, 
but  most  of  the  present  construction  is  Moorish.  On 
the  western  height,  the  tower  of  San  Pedro  defends 
the  southern  and  southwestern  slopes,  and  the  ap- 
proach along  the  ridge  from  the  west,  was  the  direc- 
tion whence  Hannibal  made  his  attacks.  The  sum- 
mit is  higher,  and  here  is  the  main  work,  the  Castle 
of  San  Fernando,  the  top  being  called  the  Palo  de  la 
Bandera  or  the  "  Flagstaff."  There  is  a  spacious 
Moorish  cistern,  and  in  the  castle  walls  are  built 
ancient  sculptures  and  inscriptions,  evidently  taken 
from  earlier  works.  Upon  the  eastern  height  are  the 
ruins  of  the  old  citadel  of  Saloquia,  with  the  remains 
of  a  Roman  Temple.  To  the  southward  the  preci- 
pice falls  suddenly  off  into  an  abyss  clad  with  cactus, 
while  the  view  over  land  and  sea  is  superb,  embracing 
the  wide  plain  of  Valencia,  from  the  distant  Mongo 
and  mountains  of  Alicante  far  southward,  around  to 
the  hills  of  Benicasion,  nearly  forty  miles  to  the 
north,  and  the  valley  of  the  Palancia  stretches  a  deli- 
cious green  paradise  to  the  northwest.  This  broad 

and  beautiful  intervale  extends  away  among  the  hills, 
VOL.  1—20 


306  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

beyond  the  boundaries  of  Valencia,  until  lost  in  the 
bleak  and  barren  steppes  of  Aragon.  About  twenty 
miles  up  the  river,  surrounded  by  mountains,  is  an- 
cient Segorbe,  which  was  the  Celtiberian  Segobriga, 
according  to  traditions  that  tell  of  the  Roman  and 
Carthaginian  struggles  there.  At  Segorbe  is  a  palace 
of  the  Duke  of  Medinaceli,  with  Doric  columns  of  the 
Roman  period,  while  one  of  the  churches  contains 
Kibalta's  painting  of  Christ  in  Hades. 

To  the  northward  of  the  wide  Palancia  valley,  the 
surface  rises  into  hills  forming  the  northern  boundary 
of  the  great  Valencia  province.  This  is  the  hill  dis- 
trict of  Almenara,  and  on  a  high  eminence  west  of 
the  railway  is  the  old  Moorish  castle  holding  the  pass, 
where  King  Jaime  I  of  Aragon  defeated  them  in 
1238,  and  thus  was  enabled  to  overrun  and  capture 
the  rich  Valencian  towns  and  huertas.  Beyond  these 
hills,  the  Mi j ares  torrent  comes  out  of  the  mountains 
to  the  northwest,  its  waters  diverted  through  a  maze 
of  canals  for  the  irrigation  of  the  fertile  huerta  of  the 
Villareal.  The  chief  of  these  works  is  the  Moorish 
Castellon  Canal,  which  is  as  good  to-day  as  when 
built,  probably  a  thousand  years  ago.  The  town  of 
Villareal  is  environed  by  orange  groves,  among 
which  its  blue  tiled  cupolas  and  towers  prettily  rise. 
We  are  in  the  province  of  Castellon  de  la  Plena,  and 
upon  another  pleasant  huerta,  three  miles  northward, 
is  its  capital,  Castellon,  about  four  miles  inland  from 
the  sea  coast,  the  birthplace  of  the  artist  Ribalta. 


APPROACHING  THE  EBRO  307 

Prosperous  hamlets  are  scattered  liberally  along  the 
coastal  plain,  despite  the  fact  that  the  mountains  here 
come  closer  to  the  sea,  but  the  wonderful  stimulant 
of  the  irrigation  systems  from  the  numerous  streams, 
makes  a  fertility  that  keeps  the  dense  population 
busy.  On  a  high,  rocky  islet  just  off  the  coast,  and 
connected  by  a  narrow  sand  strip,  is  the  stronghold  of 
Peniscola,  called  the  "  Gibraltar  of  Valencia,"  which 
Jaime  I,  after  a  vigorous  siege,  took  from  the  Moors 
in  1233,  paving  the  way  to  his  conquest  of  Valencia. 
He  gave  the  islet  to  the  Knights  Templar,  and  it 
afterward  passed  into  the  possession  of  the  Order  of 
Montesa,  founded  in  1318  to  succeed  them,  and 
named  for  the  old  castle  on  the  river  Montesa,  now 
Jativa,  which  was  ruined  by  the  earthquake  of  1748. 
When  this  Montesa  order  became  extinct  in  the  fif- 
teenth century,  Peniscola  was  made  crown  property, 
and  it  was  captured  by  the  French  in  1811.  This 
was  the  place  of  refuge  of  Pope  Benedict  XIII  in 
1415,  when  the  Council  of  Constance  dethroned 
him.  The  little  summer-dry  river  Cenia  is  crossed, 
the  boundary  of  the  old  kingdom  of  Valencia, 
and  the  train  enters  Catalonia,  the  northeastern 
province  of  Spain,  extending  to  the  Pyrenees. 
Westward,  among  the  mountains,  is  the  fortress  of 
Morella,  the  Roman  Castra  ^Elia,  which  was  the 
stronghold  protecting  the  Valencian  frontier  against 
Aragon,  but  fell  into  the  hands  of  Jaime  I,  with 
the  rest  of  the  coveted  Moorish  kingdom,  in  the 


308  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

thirteenth  century.  It  displays  ancient  castle  towers 
and  a  church  of  Santa  Maria,  built  in  1317,  with 
a  choir  elevated  upon  arches  to  which  the  clergy 
ascend  on  a  winding  staircase,  and  in  it  is 
Ribalta's  painting  representing  the  conquering 
Jaime  I,  holding  in  his  hand  a  piece  of  the  True 
Cross.  The  first  Catalonian  town  entered  is  Ulde- 
cona,  and  in  this  district  the  irrigation  method  is  var- 
ied by  the  appearance  of  norias,  or  wheels  that  raise 
the  waters.  Far  away  to  the  east,  the  flat  land 
spreads  out  to  the  distant  Cape  Tortosa,  at  the  delta 
of  the  great  river,  while  the  lofty  Sierras  continue 
to  bound  the  western  view.  Then  the  route  comes 
to  the  huge  Monte  Caro,  rising  nearly  three  thousand 
feet,  and  we  reach  the  valley  of  the  Ebro  at  Tortosa. 

TORTOSA    TO    SAKAQOSSA. 

The  river  Ebro  is  one  of  the  greatest  in  Spain,  and 
its  tributaries  collect  the  waters  of  the  larger  portion 
of  the  southern  slopes  of  the  Pyrenees.  Its  head 
springs  are  in  the  mountains  of  Santander  on  the 
northern  border,  and  it  flows  southeast  between  lofty 
and  picturesque  Sierras,  separating  Navarra  from 
Old  Castile,  intersects  Aragon,  and  after  a  course  of 
about  four  hundred  miles,  empties  into  the  Mediter- 
ranean through  a  double  mouth,  eastward  of  Tortosa 
in  Catalonia.  The  huge  mountain  chain  forming  the 
western  border  of  the  province,  and  dividing  it  from 
Aragon,  is  broken  down  for  the  river- passage^ 'at 


TORTOSA  TO  SARAGOSSA  309 

Mequinenza,  making  a  romantic  defile,  and  the  geolo- 
gists tell  us  this  mountain  range  was  formerly  a  bar- 
rier, damming  up  the  waters  in  a  vast  lake  that  cov- 
ered most  of  Aragon.  Above  the  defile,  it  receives 
the  most  considerable  tributary  from  the  northward, 
the  Segre,  coming  down  from  the  eastern  Pyrenees. 
Farther  up,  it  has  the  inflow  from  the  north  of  the 
Gallego  near  Saragossa,  and  the  Aragon  which  named 
that  kingdom,  and  also  the  Guadaloupe,  Jalon  and 
Oca  coming  in  from  the  south.  Like  all  Spanish 
rivers,  the  Ebro  abounds  with  shoals  and  rapids,  im- 
peding navigation,  but  a  canal  from  below  Saragossa 
to  Tudela  in  Navarra,  aids  the  passage  of  boats  to 
the  upper  waters.  The  lower  river  has  been  im- 
proved below  Tortosa,  and  the  coast  harbor  of  Alfa- 
ques  or  the  "  sand  banks,"  is  made  south  of  the  delta, 
behind  a  protecting  peninsula,  to  which  the  San  Car- 
los Canal  leads.  The  chief  commerce  of  the  Ebro  is 
the  floating  down  of  timber  from  the  mountain  for- 
ests, and  the  transport  of  grain.  This  noted  river 
was  anciently  the  border,  between  the  Moorish  posses- 
sions and  the  Christian  empire  of  Charlemagne.  Its 
delta  is  covered  with  many  canals  and  ponds,  and 
through  it  the  two  mouths  flow  to  the  sea,  the  Gold 
del  Norte  and  the  Gola  del  Sur,  enclosing  the  sandy 
island  of  Buda.  At  the  northern  mouth  is  the  lofty 
lighthouse  of  Cape  Tortosa,  seen  far  over  the  sea  and 
the  lowlands. 

In  the   fertile  valley  of  this  great   river,   about 


310  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

twenty  miles  from  its  mouth,  is  Tortosa,  just  where 
the  stream  emerges  from  the  hill  country  to  the  broad 
coastal  plain.  This  place  was  regarded  as  the  key  to 
the  control  of  the  Ebro,  and  was  early  made  a  Roman 
stronghold  as  Dertosa,  while  afterward  it  was  long 
fought  for  by  Christian  and  Moor.  Charlemagne's 
son  Louis  captured  it,  but  the  Moors  regained  posses- 
sion in  811,  and  it  then  became  a  piratical  headquar- 
ters preying  upon  the  Mediterranean  commerce,  so 
that  Pope  Eugenius  proclaimed  a  special  crusade 
against  the  place,  and  it  was  attacked  by  the  allied 
Knights  Templar,  the  Genoese  and  others  from  Italy, 
and  captured  in  1148,  coming  under  control  of 
Ramon  Berenguer  IV  of  Barcelona.  The  next  year 
the  Moors  made  a  ferocious  attack,  but  were  beaten 
off  by  the  help  of  the  women,  so  that  in  gratitude 
Ramon  gave  them  the  investiture  of  the  red  sash  of 
the  order  La  Hacha  "  the  axe,"  authorizing  them  to 
take  precedence  of  the  men  at  marriages,  and  to  im- 
port their  wedding  trousseau  free  of  duty.  There 
are  various  Moorish  remains,  including  the  Al- 
mudena  or  tower  of  the  Cathedral,  the  sacred  edifice 
built  in  the  fourteenth  century,  being  on  the  site  of 
Abderrahman's  mosque  of  the  tenth  century.  Tor- 
tosa is  peaceful  now,  and  the  ruins  of  the  grim  old 
castle  overlook  the  town  from  the  hill  slopes.  The 
Ebro  comes  from  the  northward  to  Tortosa,  break- 
ing through  the  mountains  that  divide  Catalonia 


TORTOSA  TO  SARAGOSSA  311 

from  Aragon,  and  flowing  in  deep  ravines  along 
the  Sierra  de  Mequinenza,  where  it  receives  its  chief 
affluent,  the  Segre.  Above  their  union,  it  comes 
from  the  west,  and  at  Caspe  receives  the  Guadaloupe 
from  the  southward.  On  this  stream  is  Alcaniz, 
which  was  the  Iberian  Anitorgis,  where  Hasdrubal 
the  Carthaginian,  212  B.  C.,  defeated  the  Romans, 
killing  the  two  generals,  the  brothers  Gnseus  and 
Publius  Cornelius  Scipio,  the  earliest  of  that  illus- 
trious family.  The  Ebro,  above  Caspe,  flows 
through  a  broad  and  fertile  intervale  from  the  north- 
west. At  Fuentes  de  Ebro,  the  Ginel  comes  in,  and 
here  is  the  Canal  Imperial  of  Aragon  terminus. 
This  canal  was  started  by  Charles  V  in  the  sixteenth 
century,  but  never  finished,  and  it  follows  the  right 
bank  of  the  river  for  about  sixty  miles,  being  ten 
feet  deep.  Originally  intended  for  commerce,  it 
has  been  long  superseded  by  the  railways  and  is 
now  used  for  irrigation,  bringing  down  an  enormous 
volume  of  water  from  the  higher  river  reaches,  which 
makes  great  fertility  on  that  side  of  the  river.  It 
is  constructed  on  a  very  uneven  surface,  and  has 
various  waterfalls  to  lower  levels,  while  in  places 
it  is  very  much  higher  than  the  Ebro,  passing 
through  Saragossa  along  the  southern  hill  slope  at 
an  elevation  of  one  hundred  and  twenty  feet  over 
the  river  level.  Eighteen  miles  above  the  canal 
terminus  is  Saragossa,  the  Spanish  Zoragoza,  the 


312  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

capital  of  Aragon,  with  about  a  hundred  thousand 
population,  and  the  dominant  city  of  the  Ebro 
valley. 

St.  James  the  Elder,  the  son  of  Zebedee,  is  the 
patron  saint  of  Spain;  the  tradition  being  that  he 
came  here  as  a  missionary.  Santiago  de  Compostela, 
in  the  northwestern  part  of  the  kingdom,  claims  pos- 
session of  his  bones.  The  tradition  adds  that  after 
he  was  beheaded  in  Judea,  his  remains  were  brought 
to  Spain,  but  their  whereabouts  forgotten,  till  in  the 
ninth  century,  a  brilliant  star  pointed  out  the  spot 
on  the  site  of  the  present  Santiago  Cathedral.  All 
through  the  long  wars  of  the  Christians  against  the 
Moors,  the  faithful  frequently  saw  their  patron  saint, 
clad  in  gleaming  armor,  encouraging  and  helping 
in  the  battles  against  the  infidels.  While  Santiago 
is  his  shrine,  Saragossa  has  a  memory  and  a  relic 
fully  as  attractive  to  the  devout.  When  engaged 
in  his  Spanish  missionary  work,  the  Virgin  here  ap- 
peared to  St.  James,  standing  on  a  sacred  pillar. 
The  day  was  October  12,  still  kept  as  the  sacred 
day  of  Saragossa,  and  the  revered  pillar  is  in  the 
Cathedral  of  the  Virgin  del  Pilar,  a  relic  that  brings 
crowds  of  pilgrims  to  the  city.  Many  have  been  the 
marvels  and  miracles  surrounding  the  Spanish  mem- 
ory of  St.  James,  and  in  1595  the  "  Gospel  of  St. 
James "  was  discovered  upon  a  mountain  of  the 
Sierra  Nevada  range,  inscribed  upon  lead.  For 
nearly  a  century  this  relic  attracted  the  liveliest  at- 


Street  in  Saragossa, 


TORTOSA  TO  SARAGOSSA  313 

tention  of  the  church,  but  in  1692,  after  exhaustive 
investigations,  Pope  Innocent  XI  declared  the 
leaden  gospel  to  be  spurious. 

Aragon  is  a  somewhat  desolate  region,  its  stony 
wastes,  (debarred  of  moisture  by  the  coast  mountains 
keeping  out  the  rain-bearing  winds),  being  in  sharp 
contrast  with  the  fertility  of  the  eastern  districts  of 
Catalonia  and  Valencia  along  the  sea,  and  the  rich 
oasis  of  the  Ebro  which  extends  through  the  desert 
steppes.  In  the  usually  thirsty  acres  of  Aragon,  it 
was  a  proverb,  that  the  people  could  more  easily  mix 
their  mortar  with  wine  than  with  water,  so  few  and 
scant  are  the  streams.  The  Aragonese  are  a  sombre 
people,  reproducing  many  of  the  traits  of  their  re- 
mote Iberian  ancestors,  and  being  passionately  de- 
voted to  the  memory  of  the  Virgin  del  Pilar.  Her 
image  is  in  every  home,  and  it  hangs  as  a  jewel  upon 
almost  everyone's  neck.  She  is  the  protector  of  the 
whole  kingdom,  and  especially  of  Saragossa.  This 
city  was  the  original  Iberian  settlement  of  Salduba, 
at  the  crossing  of  the  Ebro,  where  the  Romans  early 
took  possession,  as  it  controlled  not  only  that  river, 
but  also  the  Gallego  coming  from  the  north,  and  the 
Huerva  and  Jalon  from  the  south.  Augustus  made 
here  the  Roman  Colonia  Ccesar  Augusie  from  which 
was  derived  the  city's  name,  and  there  are  some 
relics  of  the  Roman  walls  yet  preserved.  Charle- 
magne tried  unsuccessfully  to  take  it  from  the  Moors, 
and  being  compelled  to  raise  the  siege  in  778,  his 


314  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

forces  retreated  northward  and  through  the  Pyre- 
nees, where  their  rear  guard  was  cut  off  in  the  Pass 
of  Roncesvalles,  and  the  famous  Roland,  the  Paladin, 
was  slain.  After  a  long  siege  in  1118,  however,  Al- 
fonso I  of  Aragon  took  the  city  from  the  Moors,  and 
it  became  his  capital.  For  over  three  centuries  it 
was  very  prosperous,  but  on  the  marriage  of  Ferdi- 
nand of  Aragon  to  Isabella,  and  the  subsequent  re- 
moval of  the  capital  to  Castile,  the  queen's  kingdom, 
its  importance  declined. 

The  great  event  of  Saragossa  is  the  sieges  by  the 
French  in  1808-9.  It  was  practically  an  unforti- 
fied town  when  the  people  determined  to  oppose  the 
French  invasion,  and  on  May  25,  1808,  organized  for 
resistance  under  their  own  leaders,  who  had  less 
than  three  hundred  soldiers.  Hastily  erecting  de- 
fences, the  French  attacked  them  in  June,  and  after 
a  siege  from  June  15  to  August  14  were  repulsed 
with  great  loss.  The  French  returned  and  began  a 
second  siege  with  about  eighteen  thousand  men,  De- 
cember 20,  which  continued  until  February  21,  1809, 
the  besiegers  being  largely  reinforced,  when  the  town 
surrendered  after  one  of  the  most  desperate  defences 
in  history,  yielding  to  famine  and  pestilence,  after 
baffling  four  marshals  of  France  at  the  head  of  great 
armies.  The  French  held  the  place  until  July,  1813. 
During  these  sieges,  fifty-four  thousand  persons 
within  the  town  perished,  of  whom  only  about  six 
thousand  were  killed  by  the  enemy,  the  others  dying 


TORTOSA  TO  SARAGOSSA  315 

from  starvation  and  epidemics.  The  French,  about 
the  beginning  of  December,  penetrated  the  lines  of 
defence,  but  they  had  to  capture  every  house  sepa- 
rately, and  the  desperate  street  fighting  continued 
during  three  weeks  before  they  could  compel  a  sur- 
render. The  French  said  of  the  stout  defenders  that 
"  their  heads  were  hard  enough  to  drive  a  nail,"  and 
in  this  fighting  was  first  heard  the  phrase,  guerra  la, 
cuohillo  — "  war  to  the  knife."  The  heroine  of  the 
siege  was  the  famous  "  Maid  of  Saragossa."  In  the 
line  of  the  old  walls,  on  the  western  verge  of  the  city, 
is  the  Puerta  del  Portillo,  to  which  leads  from  the 
central  district,  the  street  of  Agustina  Aragon.  The 
famous  maid  was  Maria  Agustina,  an  itinerant  seller 
of  cool  drinks  in  the  streets,  and  during  the  siege  she 
distinguished  herself  by  heroic  participation  in  some 
of  the  severest  encounters  with  the  French,  and  par- 
ticularly in  the  final  street  fights.  Her  lover  was  an 
artillerist,  working  his  gun  at  this  Puerta,  and  when 
he  was  shot  down,  she  took  the  match  from  his  dying 
hand,  and  worked  the  gun  herself.  This  gave  her 
the  popular  title,  "  La  artillera,"  and  her  fame  went 
throughout  the  world.  For  her  services  she  was 
made  a  sub-lieutenant  in  the  Spanish  army  and  re- 
ceived many  decorations.  The  Maid  lived  until 
June,  1857.  Byron  has  immortalized  her  in 
Childe  Harold: 

Her   lover   sinks  —  she   sheds   no   ill-timed  tear; 
Her  chief  is  slain  —  she  fills  his  fatal  post; 


316  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

Her   fellows   flee  —  she  checks  their  base   career ; 

The  foe  retires  —  she  heads  the  sallying  host. 

Who   can   appease  like   her   a    lover's   ghost? 
Who  can  avenge  so  well  a  leader's  fall? 

What  maid  retrieve  when  man's  flash'd  hope  is  lost? 
Who  hang  so   fiercely   on  the  flying   Gaul 
Foiled  by  a  woman's  hand,  before  a  battered  wall? 

The  centenary  of  the  siege  of  Saragossa  was  ap- 
propriately celebrated,  in  the  latter  part  of  October, 
1908,  by  a  fete  and  the  erection  of  a  monument  to  the 
brave  and  obstinate  Aragonese,  the  King  and  Queen 
of  Spain,  Alfonso  and  Victoria,  attending.  There 
was  also  a  historical  congress,  all  the  nations  engaged 
in  the  Peninsular  War  and  the  sieges  being  repre- 
sented, including  the  French. 

Despite  the  usual  barrenness  of  the  Aragon  wastes, 
the  immediate  neighborhood  of  Saragossa  is  fertile, 
being  the  lowland  plain  bordering  the  Ebro  and  its 
affluents,  and  the  Imperial  Canal.  Mountains  sur- 
round these  intervales,  and  at  the  northern  horizon  is 
the  snow-crowned  line  of  summits  of  the  Pyrenees. 
Water  courses  run  everywhere  through  the  fields,  and 
the  fertility  in  the  spring,  when  the  grain  is  in  full 
growth,  is  charming.  The  suburbs  are  filled  with 
pleasant  villas,  while  the  Imperial  Canal,  constructed 
along  the  southern  highlands  bordering  the  city, 
furnishes  water  power  for  many  factories.  The  cen- 
tral older  town,  with  its  fortress-like  dwellings  of  the 
ancient  aristocracy,  known  as  the  solares,  continues 


TORTOSA  TO  SARAGOSSA  317 

substantially  unchanged,  but  the  city  has  spread  over 
a  large  surface  of  new  and  modern  streets  that  are 
very  attractive.  Several  bridges  cross  the  Ebro, 
which  is  bordered  by  broad  quays.  The  oldest  of 
these  bridges  dates  from  the  fifteenth  century,  and 
crosses  in  front  of  the  Town  Hall  and  the  Lonja,  or 
Exchange,  the  latter  a  fine  Renaissance  structure  of 
the  middle  sixteenth  century,  having  a  great  hall  oc- 
cupying most  of  the  interior.  On  either  side  of  the 
public  buildings  are  the  two  cathedrals,  which  are 
the  most  notable  structures.  To  the  eastward  is  the 
venerable  Gothic  cathedral  dedicated  to  the  Saviour, 
and  built  between  the  twelfth  and  sixteenth  centuries, 
La  Sco,  the  seat  of  the  archbishop,  a  large  quad- 
rangular edifice,  with  an  octagonal  four-storied  tower. 
The  construction  has  developments  of  Moorish  style, 
and  the  interior  with  its  double  aisles  and  rectangu- 
lar choir,  appears  much  like  a  mosque,  there  being 
slender  clustered  pillars,  with  elaborately  sculptured 
capitals  and  richly  adorned  vaulting.  In  the  midst 
of  the  choir  is  a  tabernacle,  having  black  and  white 
twisted  columns,  and  placed  to  mark  the  spot  where 
tradition  says  the  "  Cristo  de  la  Seo  "  addressed  one 
of  the  canons.  There  are  statues  of  St.  Lawrence 
and  St.  Vincent,  and  here  King  Ferdinand,  the  Cath- 
olic, the  conqueror  of  Granada,  was  baptized  in  1456. 
The  noted  Spanish  inquisitor,  Pedro  Arbues,  was 
inurdered  in  this  cathedral  in  1485,  and  is  buried 


318  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

with  other  prelates  in  one  of  the  chapels.  He  was 
afterward  made  a  saint,  and  his  kneeling  figure  is 
reproduced  on  the  monument. 

The  famous  cathedral  of  the  Virgin  del  Pilar  is 
west  of  the  Town  Hall  and  near  the  river,  above 
which  rise  its  brilliantly  colored  tiled  cupolas  arid 
domes.  The  sacred  pillar,  on  which  the  Virgin  ap- 
peared to  St.  James,  stood  here,  not  far  from  the 
river,  and  in  early  times  was  enclosed  by  a  small 
chapel,  which  afterward  was  surrounded  by  other 
chapels  and  cloisters.  In  the  late  seventeenth  cen- 
tury the  present  cathedral  was  begun,  and  work  was 
continued  until  the  nineteenth  century,  some  of  the 
towers  being  yet  unfinished.  It  is  about  four  hun- 
dred and  forty  feet  long  and  two  hundred  and  twenty 
feet  wide,  being  in  fact  two  churches  with  their  high 
altars  standing  back  to  back.  Chapels  are  all  around 
the  interior,  which  in  the  rather  larger  western  por- 
tion is  the  cathedral,  with  nave,  choir  and  altar;  and 
to  the  eastward  is  the  other  church,  its  high  altar  be- 
ing in  the  Chapel  of  the  Virgin  at  the  western  end. 
Rows  of  columns  divide  the  aisles  from  the  naves, 
while  above  the  aisles  are  tiled  cupolas.  The  central 
dome  rises  over  the  cathedral  high  altar,  and  the 
Virgin's  chapel  is  surmounted  by  a  still  larger  dome. 
The  cathedral  altar  is  a  splendid  Gothic  work  in 
alabaster,  from  the  quarries  of  Escatron,  down  the 
Ebro,  and  is  adorned  elaborately  with  scenes  from 
the  Virgin's  life.  At  the  top  angels  support  her,  and 


Cathedral  of  Our  Lady  of  the  Pillar,  Saragossa. 


TORTOSA  TO  SARAGOSSA  319 

below  are  statues  of  St.  James  and  St.  Braulio,  the 
devout  pilgrims'  kisses  having  partly  worn  away  their 
hands.  The  chief  attraction  is  the  Chapel  of  the 
Virgin,  which  is  rectangular,  and  surmounted  by  an 
oval  dome,  borne  on  marble  columns.  Above  is  a 
higher  cupola  adorned  with  frescoes  by  Velasquez. 
In  the  western  wall  are  three  recesses,  with  altars 
lighted  by  silver  lamps,  and  here  masses  are  said 
during  all  the  mornings.  Above  the  central  and  left- 
hand  altars  are  marble  groups,  one  being  the  Virgin 
with  angels,  and  the  other  St.  James  and  his  disci- 
ples. Above  the  right-hand  altar  is  the  prized,  but 
almost  invisible,  Pilar,  and  a  wooden  image  of  the 
Virgin  and  child,  blackened  by  incense.  Behind  the 
wall  is  an  aperture,  through  which  the  pilgrims  may 
kiss  the  Pilar,  contained  within.  Upon  October  21, 
1905,  there  was  presented  to  the  Virgin  del  Pilar 
a  magnificent  set  of  crown  jewels,  ordered  by  Queen 
Maria  Christina  of  Spain  and  a  Committee  of  La- 
dies, in  testimony  of  the  veneration  in  which  the 
Virgin  is  held  throughout  the  kingdom.  There  is  a 
crown  and  corona  for  the  Virgin,  and  a  smaller  crown 
for  the  child.  There  are  ten  thousand  diamonds, 
pearls,  emeralds,  sapphires,  and  other  precious  stones 
in  this  national  offering  which  cost  $150,000.  It 
was  exhibited  at  the  royal  palace  of  the  Escurial,  also 
in  Madrid,  and  was  taken  to  Rome  by  a  deputation  of 
the  ladies,  to  be  blessed  by  the  Pope,  before  the  pre- 
sentation at  Saragossa. 


320  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

Southward  some  distance  from  the  cathedral,  and 
in  the  heart  of  the  city,  is  the  old  Church  of  Santiago, 
which  was  built  at  the  place  where  St.  James,  ac- 
cording to  the  tradition,  passed  the  night  after  the 
Virgin's  appearance  to  him,  in  vigil  and  prayer  for 
the  success  of  his  mission  work.  Another  pious  tra- 
dition of  the  Ebro,  relates  to  the  martyrdom  of  Saints 
Celedonius  and  Emeterius.  About  seventy-five  miles 
up  the  river  is  the  ancient  Iberian  town  of  Calahorra, 
where  the  Romans  beheaded  these  saints  in  the  third 
century,  throwing  their  heads  in  the  Ebro.  They 
floated  past  Saragossa  down  to  the  Mediterranean, 
and  all  around  the  Spanish  peninsula,  to  Santander 
on  the  coast  of  the  Bay  of  Biscay,  where  they  were 
cast  ashore  and  thus  became  the  patron  saints  of  that 
noted  Spanish  watering  place,  the  high  altar  of  the 
Santander  Cathedral  enshrining  these  precious  relics. 

TARRAGONA. 

We  have  entered  Catalonia  in  the  region  of  the 
lower  Ebro,  the  famous  Roman  province  of  Hispania 
Torraconensis,  which  became  part  of  the  kingdom  of 
the  Franks,  as  the  land  of  the  "  Spanish  Mark,"  until 
Wilfred  the  Shaggy  in  the  ninth  century  established 
its  independence.  It  got  its  code  of  laws  from  Ra- 
mon Berenguer  I  of  Barcelona  in  the  eleventh  cen- 
tury, and  afterward  was  united  with  Aragon.  The 
Catalan  is  regarded  as  the  best  business  man  in  Spain, 
and  in  the  middle  ages  he  was  among  the  boldest  and 


TARRAGONA  321 

most  skilful  mariners  of  Europe.  It  is  a  mountain- 
ous district,  with  the  lower  coastal  regions,  along  the 
Mediterranean,  made  extremely  fertile  by  irrigation. 
Northward  of  the  wide  Ebro  delta,  the  mountains 
draw  near  the  coast.  The  promontory  of  the  massive 
Cape  Salou  projects  into  the  sea,  surmounted  by  a 
watch-to\ver,  while  beyond  is  the  harbor  of  Tarra- 
gona, a  stronghold  of  the  Iberians,  and  one  of  the 
most  interesting  survivals  of  the  ancient  times.  A 
mole,  nearly  a  mile  long,  shelters  the  harbor  from  the 
sea,  while  the  hill  formerly  crowned  by  the  citadel, 
and  now  by  the  cathedral,  rises  over  five  hundred  feet 
above  the  town,  which  is  built  upon  its  slopes  and 
along  the  water's  edge.  This  mole,  having  a  light- 
house at  the  end,  was  originally  constructed  in  the 
fifteenth  century,  largely  of  stones  taken  from  the  old 
Roman  theatre,  and  has  since  been  extended.  It  is 
the  chief  promenade  of  the  townsfolk.  The  city  now 
has  a  population  of  about  thirty  thousand,  but  in  the 
days  of  its  prosperity,  as  the  chief  Roman  stronghold 
of  Hispania,  the  report  is  that  it  had  a  million  peo- 
ple. 

Tarraco  originated  in  mystery.  When  tradition 
first  tells  about  it,  the  Iberian  tribe  of  Kessetanians 
had  their  stronghold  on  the  hill.  They  built  its  cy- 
clopean  walls,  which  are  still  the  greatest  curiosity 
of  the  city,  and  encircle  the  lower  part  of  the  hill 
in  a  circumference  of  about  two  miles;  and  their 
coins  and  other  relics  have  been  dug  up  in  the  neigh- 
VOL.  1—21 


322,  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

borhood.  During  the  second  Punic  War,  the 
Romans  came  about  218  B.  Cv  under  the  Scipios, 
and  captured  it.  They  were  seeking  a  base  from 
which  to  oppose  the  Carthaginians,  who  had  estab- 
lished Cartagena,  and  were  attracted  by  the  special 
defensive  features  of  the  port  and  hill.  They  made 
a  harbor  and  citadel,  and  the  town  was  extended  all 
over  the  hill  slopes  and  lower  grounds,  becoming  ul- 
timately the  capital  of  Hispania  in  the  time  of  Au- 
gustus, who  made  it  his  winter  residence  B.  C.  26. 
Then  it  was  adorned  with  splendid  structures,  and 
the  people  erected  a  temple  to  him,  which  Hadrian 
afterward  restored  and  enlarged.  It  became  the 
greatest  Roman  settlement  in  Spain,  Pliny  testifying 
to  its  prosperity  and  attractions  and  the  celebrity  of 
its  wines.  But  the  Goths  attacking,  drove  out  the 
Romans  in  the  fifth  century,  making  great  havoc,  and 
the  Moors  under  Tarik  in  the  early  eighth  century 
destroyed  it.  During  nearly  four  hundred  years 
subsequently,  this  great  city  with  its  million  people 
of  the  Roman  period,  had  so  completely  degenerated, 
that  it  became  almost  uninhabited.  The  Counts  of 
Barcelona,  however,  in  the  twelfth  century  took  some 
interest  in  it,  but  the  decay  continued,  and  its  trade 
had  gone  to  the  Christians  of  Barcelona  on  the  one 
side,  and  the  Moors  of  Valencia  on  the  other.  It 
revived  somewhat  in  the  middle  ages,  when  various 
Church  Councils  were  held  here,  and  in  1811  the 
French  under  Suchet  captured  and  plundered  it. 


TARRAGONA  323 

The  old  walls  exist,  the  fortifications  are  ruined,  but 
it  is  a  most  interesting  antiquarian  gem,  with  many 
Iberian  and  Roman  remains,  the  houses  being  largely 
constructed  of  the  materials  taken  from  their  old 
buildings,  and  the  harbor  has  a  good  trade,  particu- 
larly in  the  wines  of  the  district,  the  vintages  being 
stored  for  ripening  in  the  large  underground  bodegas. 
Surmounted  by  the  archbishop's  palace  and  the 
cathedral,  the  hill  has  on  its  slopes,  the  irregular  and 
narrow  streets  of  the  old  town,  the  base  being  enclosed 
by  the  "  cyclopean  walls,"  and  having  on  its  south- 
eastern verge,  toward  the  sea,  the  ancient  Roman  cir- 
cus. To  the  southwest  spreads  the  new  town,  on  the 
lower  surface  around  the  harbor  and  beyond.  The 
old  walls  are  well  preserved  on  three  sides  of  the  hill, 
but  on  the  western  side  only  the  foundations  now  ex- 
ist. .  The  height  of  these  walls  is  in  some  places 
thirty-five  feet,  and  the  lower  courses,  which  were 
placed  by  the  Iberians,  are  of  enormous  stone  blocks 
thirteen  feet  long,  six  feet  wide  and  five  feet  high. 
They  are  built  in  primitive  fashion,  strengthened  by 
square  towers,  and  six  of  the  ancient  gates  remain. 
Higher  courses  were  added  by  the  Romans  under  the 
Scipios,  while  there  is  still  later  work  of  the  Augustan 
era.  These  well-preserved  walls  of  the  olden  time, 
are  the  chief  curiosity  of  the  city.  To  the  north- 
ward of  the  hill,  but  several  miles  away,  is  the 
valley  of  the  Gaya,  a  stream  bringing  down  a  good 
deal  of  water  from  the  mountains,  and  its  upper 


324  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

reaches  were  the  source  of  supply  in  the  Roman 
days,  by  an  aqueduct  of  which  there  are  imposing 
remains.  This  aqueduct,  twenty-two  miles  long, 
has  a  partly  subterranean  course,  and  was  restored 
for  use  in  the  early  nineteenth  century.  It  crosses 
high  above  a  valley  about  two  miles  from  the  city, 
by  two  tiers  of  arches,  this  structure,  known  as 
the  Devil's  Bridge,  being  about  seven  hundred  feet 
long.  There  are  eleven  arches  in  the  lower  tier, 
the  range  being  forty-three  feet  high,  while  the 
splendid  upper  tier  has  twenty-five  arches,  and  is 
over  one  hundred  feet  high.  On  the  road  out  to 
the  Gaya,  is  a  Roman  monument,  known  as  the 
"  Tomb  of  the  Scipios,"  built  in  the  first  century,  a 
square  structure  in  two  stages  above  a  platform,  and 
rising  twenty-seven  feet.  The  brothers  Gnseus  and 
Publius  Cornelius  Scipio,  who  were  slain  at  Alcaniz 
by  Hasdrubal,  the  Carthaginian,  are  said  by  tradi- 
tion to  be  buried  here,  but  the  story  is  doubted,  the 
inscriptions  on  the  monument  being  illegible.  The 
remains  of  the  Roman  Theatre  adjoin  the  old  city 
walls  on  the  southeastern  side,  and  here  a  fine  prome- 
nade has  been  constructed,  the  Paseo  de  Santa  Clara,, 
upon  the  walls,  giving  a  pleasant  outlook  upon  the 
harbor,  coast  and  sea.  Overlooking  the  shore,  at  one 
end,  is  the  statue  of  Admiral  Roger  de  Lauria  of  Tar- 
ragona, who  defeated  the  French  fleet  of  Charles  of 
Anjou  off  Naples  in  the  thirteenth  century.  One 
of;  the  many  traditions  of  Tarragona  is.  that  Pontius 


TARRAGONA  325 

Pilate  was  born  here,  and  his  name  is  preserved  in  an 
old  tower,  supposed  to  have  been  a  Roman  fortifica- 
tion, the  Torreon  de  Pilatus,  now  a  prison,  not  far 
from  the  eastern  end  of  the  promenade.  Upon  the 
very  top  of  the  hill,  and  part  of  the  archbishop's  pal- 
ace, there  rises  another  ancient  fortified  tower,  which 
is  the  landmark  and  commands  a  splendid  view. 

When  the  Counts  of  Barcelona  essayed  to  restore 
this  ancient  and  deserted  city,  they  founded  a  cathe- 
dral, where  a  mosque  had  stood  on  the  hilltop,  in 
1118,  but  work  had  hardly  begun  a  half -century 
later,  and  the  construction  was  continued  at  intervals 
during  six  hundred  years.  It  is,  however,  a  splendid 
specimen  of  the  late  Romanesque,  and  is  greatly  ad- 
mired. The  building  is  about  three  hundred  and 
twenty  feet  long  with  nave  and  aisles,  and  the  tran- 
septs extend  one  hundred  and  sixty  feet.  The  nave 
is  one  hundred  and  sixty-three  feet  long,  the  transepts 
are  fifty  feet  wide,  and  the  capillo  mayor  extends 
ninety-three  feet  further.  An  octagonal  steeple  rises 
over  two  hundred  feet,  and  chapels  surround  almost 
the  whole  structure.  The  interior  is  majestic,  the 
roof  being  borne  by  fourteen  huge  piers,  each  about 
thirty-five  feet  in  circumference,  and  strengthened 
by  half-columns,  with  sculptured  capitals,  from 
which  the  roof-arches  rise.  Here  is  the  tomb  of  the 
great  King  of  Aragon,  Jaime  I,  the  "  Conqueror," 
erected  in  the  nineteenth  century,  of  the  materials 
brought  from  his  monument  at  St.  Poblet,  the  noted 


326  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

Cistercian  Abbey,  among  the  Prades  mountains  north 
of  the  city,  and  the  old-time  burial  place  of  the  Kings 
of  Aragon.  The  patron  saint  of  Tarragona,  St. 
Tecla,  has  his  relics  in  one  of  the  side  chapels,  and 
on  his  festival  day,  September  23,  the  cathedral  is 
hung  with  tapestries  depicting  his  career.  There  are 
well-preserved  cloisters  adjoining  the  cathedral,  with 
groined  roofs,  and  Moresque  ornamentation,  the  open 
garth  in  the  centre  being  planted  with  oleanders  and 
other  sub-tropical  plants.  Curious  carvings  appear 
on  the  capitals  of  some  of  the  columns,  and  it  is  here 
that  the  sculptor,  in  his  exuberant  fancy,  has  repre- 
sented a  funeral  procession  of  rats,  carrying  the  cat 
on  a  bier,  which  suddenly  springing  up  has  scattered 
the  rodent  mourners.  Flights  of  steps  descend  from 
the  western  fagade  of  the  cathedral  to  the  street, 
which  goes  steeply  down  the  hill  to  the  Plaza  de  la 
Fuente,  on  its  southwestern  slope,  where  was  .the 
Roman  circus,  its  shape  being  reproduced  in  the 
Plaza.  Here  is  an  interesting  museum  of  antiqui- 
ties, including  many  Iberian,  Phoenician  and  Roman 
coins.  This  most  ancient  place  in  Spain,  is  to-day 
a  quiet  but  charming  resort,  its  hill  looking  out  upon 
one  of  the  most  beautiful  scenes  on  the  Mediterra- 
nean. 

About  ten  miles  west  of  Tarragona  is  Reus,  a  town 
of  mills,  where  there  is  an  industrious  but  somewhat 
turbulent  population  of  about  thirty  thousand  who 
work  in  cotton,  silk  and  other  factories.  They  keep 


TARRAGONA  327 

in  the  town  hall  the  sword  of  the  noted  General  Juan 
Prim,  the  Count  of  Reus,  who  was  born  here  in  1814, 
and  it  was  also  the  birthplace  of  the  artist  Mariano 
Fortuny  in  1839,  who  died  in  1874,  leaving  his 
masterpiece  unfinished,  the  Battle  of  Tetuan,  in  the 
Barcelona  City  Hall.  Across  the  Prades  Mountains, 
some  sixty  miles  northwest  of  Tarragona,  is  Lerida, 
the  ancient  Roman  stronghold  of  Ilerda,  which  com- 
mands the  mountain  passes  to  the  plateau  of  Aragon, 
at  the  crossing  of  the  ancient  Sicoris,  now  the  Segre 
river,  winding  down  from  the  Pyrenees  to  the  Ebro. 
It  was  here  that  Julius  Caesar  defeated  Pompey's 
legates  B.  C.  49,  and  across  the  Segre  the  Romans 
built  a  bridge,  the  foundations  of  which  have  been 
preserved,  and  support  the  present  bridge.  In  this 
rapid  river,  tradition  tells  that  Salome,  daughter  of 
Herodias,  met  retribution.  She  had  danced  before 
Herod,  and  the  grateful  king,  saying  he  would  grant 
any  request  she  made,  she  demanded  the  head  of 
John  the  Baptist  on  a  charger.  She  married  a 
Roman  general,  who  went  to  Spain,  and  was  made 
Governor  of  Lerida.  The  girl  was  fond  of  skating, 
and  going  upon  the  Segre  she  broke  through  the  thin 
ice,  and  it  closed  in  upon  her,  the  sharp  edges  cutting 
off  her  head,  which  went  dancing  down  the  rapid 
stream  for  several  miles  before  it  could  be  recovered. 
Lerida  stretches  along  the  water's  edge  and  up  the 
hill  slopes,  to  the  spacious  castle  occupying  the  sum- 
mit. Upon  the  winding  street  leading  to  it,  is  the 


328  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

Church  of  San  Lorenzo  of  the  thirteenth  century, 
the  nave  originally  a  Moorish  temple  and  afterward 
a  mosque.  The  old  cathedral  is  within  the  castle 
ramparts,  and  for  nearly  two  centuries  past,  the 
once  sacred  edifice,  which  was  founded  by  Pedro  II 
of  Aragon  in  1203,  has  been  used  as  barracks  by  the 
garrison.  Its  tower  and  campanile  are  conspicuous 
in  the  view,  while  a  new  cathedral  was  built  in  the 
eighteenth  century  lower  down  and  nearer  the  river. 

MONTSKREAT. 

The  vale  of  the  Segre  is  bordered  on  the  eastward, 
by  the  high  mountain  ranges  dividing  Aragon  from 
Catalonia,  and  crossing  the  summit  at  2,400  feet  ele- 
vation, the  railway  from  Aragon  out  to  the  Mediter- 
ranean coast,  descends  to  the  valley  of  the  Llobregat, 
flowing  into  the  sea  to  the  southward  of  Barcelona. 
Its  tributary,  the  Cardonar,  comes  from  the  moun- 
tain fastnesses  to  the  northwest,  the  waters  being 
brackish,  especially  after  a  rain,  for  up  that  stream 
is  the  famous  Montana  de  Sal  of  Cardona.  This 
river,  in  its  course,  almost  encircles  a  lofty  hill,  on 
which  is  the  old  town  of  Cardona,  dominated  by  a 
castle.  Between  the  river  and  the  castle  is  the  Salt 
mountain,  about  three  miles  in  circumference,  and 
rising  nearly  three  hundred  feet,  being  the  property 
of  the  Duke  of  Medinaceli.  This  mass  of  the  purest 
rock-salt  was  known  to  the  Romans,  and  is  men- 
tioned by  Strabo.  It  is  worked  like  a  mine,  some 


MONTSERRAT  329 

of  the  shafts  being  very  deep,  and  one  of  them,  the 
Furad  Mico  or  "  squirrel's  hole "  is  a  mile  long. 
The  sun  shining  on  the  salt  crystals,  makes  them 
sparkle  brilliantly,  and  the  miners  carve  out  of  the 
salt,  various  curious  objects,  which  they  sell  to  vis- 
itors. Along  the  Llobregat  valley,  on  its  western 
side,  rises  the  famous  Montserrat,  its  long  summit 
seen  conspicuously  against  the  horizon,  being  cut 
down  by  the  deep  fissure  of  the  Valle  Malo,  inter- 
secting the  top.  The  Llobregat  winds  around  the 
northeast  and  southeast  bases  of  the  mountain, 
through  a  deep  valley,  and  then  flows  off  southeast- 
ward among  the  hills  to  the  coastal  plain  at  Barce- 
lona. From  the  village  of  Monistrol,  a  mountain 
railway  crosses  the  river,  and  ascends  circuitously  to 
the  monastery,  by  the  cog-wheel  system,  the  distance 
being  about  five  miles. 

This  celebrated  mountain  is  a  mass  of  rock,  about 
fifteen  miles  in  circumference,  its  axis  extending 
from  southeast  to  northwest,  and  the  enormous 
precipices  forming  the  edges,  seeming  to  make  the 
summit  almost  inaccessible.  Its  highest  peak  of 
San  Jeronimo,  at  the  northwestern  end,  rises  4,070 
feet,  while  at  the  eastern  end,  the  fissure  of  the  Valle 
Malo,  with  a  torrent  rushing  down  it,  descends  in 
huge  terraces  to  the  river.  Upon  a  promontory 
about  two-thirds  of  the  way  up,  overlooking  one  of 
these  terraces,  is  the  monastery.  The  fissure  gives 
it  the  name  of  Montserrat,  the  "  serrated  mountain," 


330  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

and  it  is  one  of  the  most  celebrated  places  in  Spain. 
Its  fantastic  formations  sharply  outlined  as  the 
mountain  rises  in  almost  complete  isolation  from  the 
plain,  were  called  by  the  Moors,  the  gistares  or 
"  stone  watchmen."  The  serrated  sky-line  was  com- 
pared by  de  Amicis,  to  "  a  chain  of  slender  triangles, 
or  a  royal  crown  drawn  out  till  its  points  resemble  the 
teeth  of  a  saw,  or  so  many  sugar  loaves  ranged  in  a 
row."  The  Catalans  have  always  known  it  as  their 
Montsagrat  or  "  sacred  mountain,"  while  the  Ger- 
man traditions  of  the  middle  ages  located  here  their 
Monsalwatsch,  which  bore  the  Castle  of  the  Holy 
Grail.  It  is  a  curious  fact  that  the  romantic  litera- 
ture of  the  middle  ages  connected  the  Holy  Grail 
with  the  struggles  of  the  Spanish  Christians  against 
the  Moors,  it  being  invoked  in  aid  of  the  former,  so 
that  the  populace  believed  it  to  have  really  been 
brought  to  this  mountain.  It  was  the  central  object 
in  the  prophecies  of  Merlin,  being  the  bowl  used  by 
the  Saviour  at  the  Last  Supper,  in  which  he  changed 
the  wine  into  his  blood,  and  it  was  preserved  by 
Joseph  of  Arimathea,  when  it  received  the  blood 
flowing  from  the  wound  in  the  side  of  the  Saviour  on 
the  cross,  Joseph  —  his  life  prolonged  by  the  posses- 
sion —  taking  it  throughout  the  world  in  subsequent 
centuries  according  to  the  traditions. 

The  Montserrat  Monastery,  which  is  in  a  superb 
situation  at  about  2,900  feet  elevation,  is  one  of  the 
oldest  and  most  celebrated  convents  in  Spain.  The 


MONTSERRAT  331 

Benedictines  are  believed  to  have  been  here  before 
the  Moors  came,  and  the  tradition  is  that  St.  Luke 
made  La  Santa  Imagen,  a  small  wooden  figure  of  the 
Virgin,  which  was  brought  about  A.  D.  50  to  Barce- 
lona by  St.  Peter,  and  found  its  way  here.  When 
the  Moors  captured  the  mountain  in  717,  this  image 
was  hidden  to  prevent  its  falling  into  their  hands, 
and  all  trace  of  it  lost.  In  880,  however,  some 
peasants  who  were  tending  their  sheep  in  the  Valle 
Malo,  below  the  convent,  discovered  it  in  a  grotto, 
and  started  to  take  it  to  Mauresa,  a  village  farther 
up  the  river.  When  they  had  gone  a  little  way,  the 
miraculous  image  refused  to  be  carried  beyond  a 
spot  near  the  convent,  which  is  now  marked  by  a 
cross,  and  the  miracle  led  to  the  erection  of  the 
chapel,  for  the  preservation  of  this  sacred  relic, 
which  afterward  became,  by  enlargements,  the  great 
monastery.  A  chapel  .also  was  built  over  the 
grotto  where  the  image  was  found.  The  monastery 
was  placed  in  charge  of  the  Benedictines,  in  the 
tenth  century,  who  brought  a  company  of  monks  from 
Rapoli  in  the  mountains  north  of  Barcelona.  It  be- 
came very  wealthy,  but  lost  its  possessions  in  the 
Napoleonic  wars.  There  are  about  twenty  monks 
now  in  the  establishment,  and  they  have  many  thou- 
sands of  visitors,  mostly  pilgrims. 

The  ancient  monastery  is  in  ruins,  there  remain- 
ing however  an  unfinished  bell-tower,  the  facade  of 
the  church  and  the  cloisters,  relics  of  the  fifteenth 


332  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

century.  The  later  buildings  of  the  new  monastery 
surround  an  arcaded  court,  three  sides  being  occu- 
pied by  the  secular  houses,  and  the  fourth  by  the 
church,  a  Renaissance  structure  begun  in  1560,  under 
Philip  II,  and  completed  during  that  century,  an 
apse  in  Romanesque  having  recently  been  added. 
The  church  is  only  a  nave,  having  no  aisles,  and  this 
nave  is  remarkable,  being  about  fifty  feet  wide  and 
two  hundred  and  twenty-five  feet  long,  rising  almost 
one  hundred  and  ten  feet,  so  that  the  interior  view  is 
imposing.  On  each  side  are  six  chapels,  while  above 
the  high  altar,  and  in  the  most  sacred  place,  is  the 
prized  relic  La  Santa  Imagen,  blackened  by  age. 
Four  candles  surround  it  and  are  kept  always  burn- 
ing. Each  morning  at  ten  o'clock  this  crucifix  is 
shown  to  visitors,  while  the  monks  chant.  In  the 
sacristy  are  kept  the  valuable  wardrobe  and  jewels 
belonging  to  the  image.  Ignatius  Loyola,  the 
founder  of  the  Jesuits,  when  he  determined  in  1521 
to  abandon  the  life  of  a  soldier,  came  here  and  hung 
up  his  weapons  before  the  holy  relic,  taking  a  vow 
to  devote  himself  to  the  service  of  Christ  and  the 
Virgin.  There  are  walks  in  various  directions  from 
the  monastery,  disclosing  superb  views.  The  route 
to  the  highest  peak,  San  Jeronimo,  at  the  north- 
western verge  of  the  mountain,  goes  at  first  down 
into  and  crosses  the  Valle  Malo  and  its  rapid  stream, 
the  torrent  of  St.  Mary.  This  remarkable  fissure  is 
believed  by  the  people  here,  to  have  been  cut  into  the 


BARCELONA  333 

mountain  when  Christ  died  on  the  cross.  The  ridges 
on  either  side  are  topped  by  fantastic  pinnacles  of 
weather-worn  rock,  several  hundred  feet  high,  which 
are  known  as  the  Penascos  or  "  Guardians  of  the 
Holy  Grail."  One  group  represents  a  procession  of 
monks,  others  are  like  fingers  and  flutes,  and  there 
are  also  reproductions  of  a  saddle  and  a  skull.  The 
summit,  called  the  Mirador,  is  reached  by  a  danger- 
ous climb  over  slippery  stones,  which  is  rewarded 
by  a  glorious  view  extending  from  the  snowy  range 
of  the  Pyrenees  in  the  north,  far  over  the  Mediter- 
ranean south  and  east,  with  the  Balearic  islands 
visible  on  clear  days  along  the  southeastern  horizon. 
All  about  are  the  Catalonian  plains  and  mountains, 
shut  in  on  the  west  by  the  sombre  ranges  bounding 
Aragon.  . 

BABCELONA. 

About  twenty-five  miles  southeast  of  Montserrat  is 
the  greatest  Spanish  city  and  seaport  of  the  Mediter- 
ranean, Barcelona,  having  a  half  million  population 
and  the  reputation  of  being  the  wealthiest  munici- 
pality of  the  Kingdom.  The  Llobregat  intervale 
broadens  into  a  fertile  plain  as  it  approaches  the 
sea,  while  to  the  northeast  the  river  Besos  flows 
out  through  another  extensive  Jiuerta.  Between 
them,  and  enclosing  a  third  intervale,  are  ranges  of 
hills,  the  basin  they  environ  being  about  six  miles 
long  and  three  to  four  miles  wide,  with  a  small  har- 


334  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

bor  at  its  seaward  end,  the  outlet  of  a  little  stream, 
the  Riera  de  Malla,  that  flowed  through  the  basin. 
Such  an  attractive  haven  early  had  a  colony  on  its 
shores,  but  the  first  establishment  was  prehistoric, 
and  mythological  tradition  attributed  it  to  Hercules, 
when  he  came  over  the  sea  to  explore  these  lands, 
and  clove  down  the  Strait  of  Gades  to  make  the  Pil- 
lars of  Hercules.  The  Iberians  were  here,  and  the 
Phoenicians,  and  the  town  dawned  upon  history  in 
the  Carthaginian  era  as  Barcino.  The  Romans 
made  it  a  colony,  which  grew  until  it  outranked  all 
others  on  this  coast,  their  town  occupying  the  shores 
of  the  harbor,  and  the  slopes  of  an  oval  hill  behind, 
known  as  Monte  Taber,  where  stood  their  citadel  and 
temple,  and  where  remains  of  Roman  walls  and  gates, 
with  some  Corinthian  columns,  are  still  preserved. 
They  called  the  place  Barcenona,  and  the  Moorish 
conquest  in  the  eighth  century  made  it  Bardjaluna. 
They  held  it  about  ninety  years,  when  the  Franks 
took  it,  and  the  town  again  became  Christian  under 
the  Carlovingian  empire  of  the  Franks,  but  Wilfred 
the  Shaggy,  its  governor  under  Charles  the  Bald,  re- 
belled in  the  later  ninth  century,  and  established  its 
independence  as  the  Countship  of  Barcelona,  his  suc- 
cessors holding  it  and  Catalonia,  until,  through  mar- 
riage alliances,  it  was  united  with  Aragon.  The 
"  crown  of  nine  points,"  worn  by  the  sovereign,  rul- 
ing the  County  of  Barcelona  and  of  Catalonia,  is 
a  highly  prized  memory  and  is  reproduced  every- 


BARCELONA  335 

where  in  the  city  decorations,  the  nine  pointed  crown 
in  golden  tips  adorning  dwellings,  lamps  and  every- 
thing in  the  municipality,  and  recalling  its  former 
greatness. 

This  was  the  period  of  its  highest  prosperity, 
when  Spain  had  forty  millions  of  people,  and  Barce- 
lona and  its  suburbs  nearly  a  million,  its  commerce 
making  it  one  of  the  greatest  Mediterranean  sea- 
ports, rivalling  Venice  and  Genoa,  and  controlling  a 
large  part  of  the  lucrative  trade  with  the  Levant. 
It  then  owned  much  of  the  shipping  of  the  great  sea, 
and  Prescott  says  the  port  "  thronged  with  foreigners 
from  every  nation,  became  a  principal  emporium  in 
the  Mediterranean  for  the  spices,  drugs,  perfumes, 
and  other  rich  commodities  of  the  East,  whence  they 
were  diffused  over  the  interior  of  Spain  and  the 
European  Continent."  In  the  thirteenth  century 
Jaime  I  of  Aragon  gave  it  the  famous  Consulado  del 
Mar,  or  code  of  maritime  law,  known  as  the  "  Code 
of  the  Maritime  Customs  of  Barcelona,"  which  was 
the  commercial  and  maritime  legal  authority  of 
Europe  throughout  the  middle  ages.  Afterward  the 
discovery  of  America  and  the  changes  in  trade  routes 
affected  its  maritime  supremacy,  and  Barcelona  de- 
clined. The  transfer  of  the  Spanish  capital  from 
Aragon  to  Castile,  and  the  rivalries  of  the  Spanish 
ports  on  the  Atlantic,  made  the  people  discontented, 
as  they  blamed  their  misfortunes  on  the  Spanish 
Government.  They  repeatedly  revolted,  sympa- 


336  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

thized  with  France,  and  in  1715,  the  Spanish 
Bourbon  king  built  a  citadel  on  the  northeastern 
verge  to  control  them.  This  was  always  a  sore  point 
with  the  people,  who  became,  as  their  commerce  de- 
clined, more  and  more  a  manufacturing  community, 
and  for  over  a  century,  the  city's  history  was 
chequered  by  insurrections,  street-fights  and  out- 
breaks, the  object  being  to  get  rid  of  the  hated  citadel. 
Barcelona  and  Catalonia  generally  have  always 
cherished  an  antagonism  to  the  Castilians,  and  hence, 
they  have  always  helped  the  various  Carlist  uprisings. 
They  did  not  get  rid  of  the  citadel  until  1869,  when 
its  site,  much  to  the  popular  gratification,  and 
through  the  kindly  intervention  of  General  Prim,  was 
converted  into  a  public  park. 

The  city  is  beautifully  located.  The  undulating 
basin,  in  which  it  is  built,  slopes  from  the  harbor 
gradually  upward  to  a  range  of  hills  at  the  northwest, 
of  which  the  highest,  Tibidabo,  is  elevated  nearly 
1,800  feet.  On  either  side,  this  basin  is  bounded  by 
other  hills,  the  Montanes  Malas  to  the  northeast,  and 
the  Montjuich,  nearly  TOO  feet  high,  a  long  ridge  to 
the  southward,  rising  coffin-shaped  from  the  valley  of 
the  Llobregat,  and  gradually  ascending  toward  the 
eastern  front,  where  it  falls  off  precipitously  to  the 
sea.  Upon  the  eastern  and  highest  summit  is  the  pres- 
ent great  defensive  fortress  of  Barcelona,  the  Castillo 
de  Montjuich,  which  can  accommodate  a  garrison 
of  ten  thousand  men.  This  height  was  scaled  and 


BARCELONA  337 

captured  by  a  brilliant  movement  in  1705,  by  Lord 
Peterborough,  shortly  after  the  English  had  taken 
Gibraltar.  This  famous  hill,  originally  the  Roman 
Mons  Jugi,  the  "  mountain  of  the  yoke,"  gives  ex- 
quisite views,  and  on  its  southwestern  slope,  away 
from  the  city  and  facing  the  Llobregat,  is  one  of  the 
chief  city  cemeteries.  On  the  western  side  of  the 
mountain,  the  lowlands  stretch  off  to  the  Llobregat. 
The  extensive  plain  with  the  enclosing  hill  slopes  is 
now  covered  by  the  great  city,  having  a  splendid 
mountain  environment.  Palaces,  factories,  houses, 
gardens  and  groves,  make  a  striking  combination,  as 
they  are  spread  over  the  wide  surface,  upon  which 
the  interested  visitor  can  look  down  from  various 
high  elevations  of  the  many  surrounding  hills.  The 
older  city  had  its  walls  and  fortifications  all  removed 
in  1860,  and  replaced  by  attractive  boulevards, 
known  as  the  Eondas.  This  was  an  irregular  hexa- 
gon-shaped town,  down  through  which  came  the 
Riera  de  Malla,  which  has  been  covered  over  and 
made  into  a  wide  and  attractive  tree-shaded  street 
called  the  Rambla,  from  the  river  bed.  This 
stretches  back  northwestward  through  the  town  from 
the  harbor,  and  northward  from  its  central  part 
rises  Monte  Taber,  where  now  stands  on  the  highest 
point  the  great  Barcelona  Cathedral. 

There  is  pointed  out  on  the  Columbus  Promenade, 
a  bust  of  the  famous  author  Miguel  Cervantes,  upon 

a  house  standing  on  the  site  where  formerly  was  his 
VOL.  1—22 


338  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

residence.  Cervantes  was  born  in  1547,  but  when 
he  lived  in  Barcelona  is  not  stated.  He  wrote  his 
great  work  late  in  life,  finishing  it  at  Madrid  in 
1614,  dying  there  the  same  day  as  Shakespeare, 
April  23,  1616,  St.  George's  Day.  The  immortal 
hero  of  romantic  Spanish  chivalry,  whom  Cervantes 
created,  Don  Quixote,  must  have  come  naturally  by 
his  admiration  for  Barcelona,  which  he  describes  as 
"  the  seat  of  courtesy,  the  haven  of  strangers,  the 
refuge  of  the  distressed,  the  mother  of  the  valiant, 
the  champion  of  the  wronged,  the  abode  of  true 
friendship,  and  unique  both  in  beauty  and  situation." 
This  Columbus  Promenade,  planted  with  palms  and 
about  one  hundred  and  forty  feet  wide,  is  the  north- 
western boundary  of  the  harbor,  which  made  the 
greatness  of  the  medieval  city,  despite  its  restricted 
size,  for  it  is  barely  three  hundred  acres  in  extent, 
being  about  a  mile  long,  and  having  its  sea  entrance 
from  the  south,  a  thousand  feet  wide.  Two  moles 
shelter  it  from  the  sea,  one  being  nearly  a  mile  long, 
and  both  forming  popular  promenades.  Statues 
adorn  the  Columbus  Promenade,  erected  to  noted 
shipowners  and  admirals,  while  at  its  southwestern 
end,  in  the  Plaza  de  la  Paz,  which  forms  the  south- 
eastern termination  of  the  Rambla,  is  a  splendid 
monument  to  Columbus  erected  in  the  later  nine- 
teenth century.  Upon  an  iron  column,  at  two  hun- 
dred feet  elevation,  is  a  gilded  ball,  which  supports 
a  colossal  statue  of  the  discoverer,  twenty-three  feet 


BARCELONA  339 

high.  The  base  is  a  stone  platform,  adorned  with 
bronze  reliefs  of  scenes  from  his  life,  medallions  of 
his  patrons,  and  allegorical  figures  of  Catalonia, 
Castile,  Leon  and  Aragon,  and  having  eight  bronze 
lions  on  guard  around  it.  From  this  monument, 
stretches  the  wide  tree-shaded  Rambla,  the  princi- 
pal street,  nearly  a  mile  northwest,  a  most  attractive 
highway  leading  through  the  heart  of  the  old  city. 
Here  are  the  hotels,  banks,  theatres,  cafes,  and  many 
of  the  principal  buildings,  while  to  the  westward  of 
the  Plaza  de  Cataluna,  at  its  termination,  is  the 
Barcelona  University  with  modern  buildings,  about 
2,500  students,  rich  scientific  collections,  and  a 
library  approximating  200,000  -volumes.  Alfonso 
Y  founded  this  University  in  1450,  but  it  was  taken 
away  to  Cervera  in  the  early  eighteenth  century,  and 
not  reopened  here  until  1842.  It  is  now  in  pros- 
perous condition.  The  old  Eambla  is  extended  far 
to  the  northwest,  through  the  newer  city,  as  the 
Eambla  de  Cataluna,  and  to  the  eastward  and  parallel, 
is  another  splendid  tree-lined  street,  two  hundred  feet 
wide,  and  nearly  a  mile  long,  also  extending  north- 
west from  the  Plaza  de  Cataluna,  the  Paseo  de 
Gracia. 

It  was  upon  the  Rambla,  in  the  latter  part  of 
July,  1909,  the  recent  outbreaks  began  that  for  a 
short  time  threatened  to  extend  throughout  Catalonia. 
The  restless  people  of  Barcelona,  on  July  26,  de- 
clared a  general  strike,  as  a  protest  against  the 


340  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

recruiting  of  Spanish  troops  to  go  to  Morocco  to 
defend  Melilla,  and  the  government  immediately  de- 
clared martial  law.  The  first  collisions,  with  many 
killed  and  wounded,  occurred  that  day  on  the  Rambla, 
but  the  populace  soon  triumphed,  and  by  the  next 
day  were  in  full  possession  of  the  city.  Barricades 
were  erected,  the  authorities  driven  out,  and  the  in- 
surrection became  almost  universal.  But  the  an- 
archists soon  got  in  control,  and  the  mobs  turned  to 
plundering  and  burning  convents  and  churches, 
forcing  the  monks  and  nuns  to  flee.  There  were 
thirty-five  of  these  sacred  edifices  destroyed  within 
two  days.  The  government  sent  warships  into  the 
harbor,  and  brought  large  numbers  of  troops  from 
the  neighboring  country,  while  from  the  heights  of 
Montjuich  a  constant  cannonade  was  directed  at  the 
districts  held  by  the  rebels.  Soon  the  arriving  troops 
drove  them  out  of  most  places,  and  they  made  their 
final  stand  in  one  of  the  public  squares,  where  they 
were  mowed  down  by  machine  guns  and  trampled 
by  cavalry,  being  overpowered  July  29,  after  a  ter- 
rible contest.  During  the  riots  there  were  about  one 
hundred  people  slain  and  a  thousand  wounded. 
Over  four  hundred  captives  were  taken  to  the  fort- 
ress, and  about  two  hundred  of  the  leading  rebels 
were  summarily  tried,  condemned  and  shot.  The 
rebellion  was  thus  suppressed,  and  the  city  quieted 
under  government  control  early  in  August.  It  was 
the  execution  of  Professor  Francisco  Ferrer  by  court 


BARCELONA  34:1 

martial,  as  the  leader  who  inspired  this  rebellion,  that 
caused  Socialistic  outbreaks  during  the  summer  in 
various  parts  of  Europe. 

Monte  Taber  rises  to  the  eastward  of  the  Rambla, 
and  very  nearly  in  the  centre  of  the  ancient  city. 
Upon  its  highest  part,  the  Romans  built  a  temple 
which  was  dedicated  to  Hercules,  and  afterward  the 
Moors  had  a  mosque.  Now,  it  is  occupied  by  the 
cathedral,  dedicated  to  Santa  Eulalia,  the  patron 
saint  of  Barcelona,  not  a  very  large  edifice,  but  re- 
garded as  one  of  the  noblest  existing  creations  of  the 
Spanish  Gothic  architecture.  There  was  a  church 
here  in  the  eleventh  century,  of  which  some  parts 
remain,  and  this  structure,  at  first  called  the  Holy 
Cross,  was  begun  in  1298,  the  crypt  being  finished  in 
1339,  and  dedicated  to  Santa  Eulalia.  It  took  an- 
other century  to  build  the  church,  but  it  was  not  en- 
tirely finished  at  that  time,  and  the  northwestern 
fagade  was  only  completed  in  1890.  This  is  fronted 
by  a  plaza  on  the  sloping  hill,  and  approached  by  a 
wide  flight  of  steps,  making  a  very  impressive  view. 
Two  towers  rise  one  hundred  and  seventy  feet  a'bove 
the  transepts.  The  structure  is  two  hundred  and 
seventy-five  feet  long,  and  about  one  hundred  and 
twenty  feet  wide,  the  nave  being  eighty-two  feet  high 
and  forty-two  feet  wide,  separated  by  lofty  clustered 
columns  from  the  aisles,  which  have  many  chapels 
built  out  from  them.  The  windows  are  very  email, 
but  display  splendid  fifteenth  century  stained 


342  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

glass,  giving  fine  scenic  effects,  particularly  in 
the  late  afternoon,  but  the  interior  is  dark,  though 
thus  adding  to  its  impressive  solemnity.  The  coro 
is  adorned  with  reliefs,  depicting  scenes  from  the 
life  of  Santa  Eulalia,  and  has  above  the  stalls,  coats- 
of-arms  recalling  the  Chapter  of  the  Order  of  the 
Golden  Fleece,  held  here  by  Charles  V  in  March, 
1519,  which  was  a  very  brilliant  gathering.  The 
northeastern  doorway,  entering  between  the  nave  and 
the  Capilla  Mayor,  has  over  it  a  relief  depicting  the 
fight  between'  Vilardell  and  the  Dragon.  The  legend 
was  that  the  Moors  let  loose  a  huge  dragon  upon 
the  Christians,  when  the  knight  Vilardell  bravely 
attacked  and  slew  it.  Vainly  boasting  of  his  victory, 
he  held  his  sword  aloft,  whereupon  some  drops  of  the 
dragon's  poisonous  blood  trickled  down  upon  him  and 
he  died. 

In  the  Capilla  Mayor  is  a  sarcophagus  of  St. 
Severus,  and  a  flight  of  steps  descends  to  the  crypt, 
containing  the  tomb  of  Santa  Eulalia,  in  an  ala- 
baster shrine  of  the  early  fourteenth  century.  St. 
Severus'  remains  were  transferred  here  from  a 
chapel  nearer  the  harbor,  in  1339.  In  the  other 
chapels  are  various  tombs  and  monuments  of 
ecclesiastics.  In  one  of  them  is  the  Christ  of 
Lepanio,  the  image  with  a  bowed  head  which  Don 
John  of  Austria  had  in  his  flagship,  at  the  noted 
"battlp  against  the  Turks,  in  October,  1571,  the 
popular  belief  "being  that  the  sacred  image  bent  its 


BARCELONA  343 

head  to  avoid  a  Turkish  bullet.  A  huge  Saracen's 
Head  is  placed  below  the  organ,  in  the  northwest 
transept.  Four  Gothic  cloisters,  finished  in  the 
fifteenth  century,  adjoin  the  cathedral  on  the  south- 
west, having  on  that  side  a  row  of  chapels  backing 
against  the  row  within  the  cathedral.  In  the  inner 
court  are  foliage  plants,  and  there  is  an  equestrian 
statuette  of  St.  George,  forming  a  fountain.  A 
sarcophagus  in  one  of  the  chapels  contains  the  re- 
mains of  Alfonso  III  of  Dragon,  who  died  in  1291. 
The  adjacent  Episcopal  Palace  dates  from  the  tenth 
century,  and  incorporates  some  Roman  remains.  In 
the  court  of  a  house  near  by,  are  built  in  the  wall 
three  Corinthian  columns,  fifty  feet  high,  taken  from 
the  portico  of  the  Temple  of  Hercules  which  stood 
on  this  hill.  On  the  Plaza  del  Key,  not  far  away, 
is  the  Museum  of  Antiquities,  in  a  Gothic  church  of 
the  thirteenth  century,  and  the  General  Archives, 
erected  in  the  reign  of  Charles  V,  containing  over 
five  millions  of  documents,  including  many  precious 
manuscripts,  procured  from  old  convents,  when  they 
were  disestablished.  The  Plaza  de  la  Constitution, 
southeast  of  the  cathedral,  is  fronted  by  fine  old 
buildings.  Here  is  the  Palace  of  the  Provincial 
Deputies,  with  a  splendid  fifteenth  century  Gothic 
facade,  the  interior  halls  adorned  with  paintings  by 
Fortuny  and  other  Spanish  artists,  including  por- 
traits of  all  the  Counts  of  Barcelona.  The  City 
Hall,  on  the  other  side  of  the  Plaza,  has  a  handsome 


344  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

salon  ninety  feet  long  and  forty-five  feet  high,  and 
on  the  second  floor  is  the  hall  of  the  Municipal 
Archives.  Its  great  decoration  is  an  altar  piece, 
painted  in  the  fifteenth  century,  depicting  the  five 
town  councillors  of  that  time  being  presented  to  the 
Madonna  by  Santa  Eulalia  and  St.  Andrew. 

There  are  many  attractive  old  churches  in  the 
city.  Near  the  Rambla  is  San  Pablo  del  Campe, 
partially  burnt  in  the  outbreak  of  July,  1909.  It 
was  built  in  the  early  tenth  century  outside  the  town, 
and  hence  the  suffix  "  del  Campe."  This  was  the 
gift  of  Count  Wilfred  II  for  a  Benedictine  convent, 
and  above  the  portal  has  the  symbols  of  St.  John  and 
St.  Matthew,  with  a  hand  in  the  attitude  of  benedic- 
tion. These  are  regarded  as  among  the  first  attempts 
at  sculpture  in  Spain.  Santa  Maria  del  Pino,  built 
in  the  fifteenth  century,  with  a  huge  Catalonian  nave, 
but  without  aisles,  has  a  lofty  detached  tower,  in 
which,  on  Palm  Sunday,  a  consecrated  pine  bough 
is  hung  up,  the  tradition  being  that  the  church's 
image  of  the  Virgin  was  found  in  the  trunk  of  a 
pine  tree.  Our  Lady  of  Belen,  adjoining  the 
Rambla,  was  built  by  the  Jesuits,  in  the  late  seven- 
teenth and  early  eighteenth  centuries,  and  in  it  is 
kept  as  a  precious  relic,  the  sword  of  Ignatius  Loyola, 
which  he  originally  deposited  at  Montserrat.  The 
old  church  of  Santa  Ana,  modelled  after  the  Church 
of  the  Holy  Sepulchre,  was  built  near  the  Plaza  de 
Cataluna,  in  the  twelfth  century,  by  the  Patriarch 


Barcelona. 


BARCELONA  345 

'of  Jerusalem.  It  was  at  first  cruciform,  with  four 
arms  of  equal  size,  but  the  western  arm  was  after- 
ward extended.  Here  is  the  tomb  of  Marshal  Miguel 
Boera,  an  ancient  Spanish  commander  in  the  reigns 
of  Ferdinand  and  Charles  V.  Near  the  harbor 
originally  stood  the  Chapel  of  Santa  Eulalia,  and  it 
was  replaced  by  the  Gothic  Church  of  Santa  Maria 
del  Mar,  built  in  the  fourteenth  century,  and  having 
a  splendid  late  Gothic  fagade,  with  large  doorway 
and  rose  window,  two  slender  octagonal  towers  rising 
above.  The  nave  is  forty-two  feet  wide  and  one 
hundred  and  twelve  feet  high,  making  a  most  im- 
posing interior.  Narrow  aisles  flank  the  nave,  and 
there  are  chapels  on  either  side,  and  also  radiating 
from  the  apse.  This  church  has  several  fine  paint- 
ings, and  also  the  sarcophagus  of  Santa  Eulalia, 
which  is  in  the  Baptistery,  and  is  now  used  as  a 
font.  It  is  one  of  the  best  attended  churches  in 
Barcelona,  but  had  a  horrible  tragedy  on  June  7, 
1896.  The  elaborate  Corpus  Christi  procession  had 
come  to  the  church,  and  was  just  entering,  when  a 
bomb  was  thrown  into  the  crowd  by  an  anarchist, 
twelve  persons  being  instantly  killed,  and  fifty  in- 
jured, several  afterward  dying. 

The  Plaza  de  Palacio,  which  is  southeast  of  Santa 
Maria  del  Mar,  is  an  open  square  finely  decorated, 
around  which  are  various  buildings,  devoted  to  the 
maritime  industry  of  the  city,  which  here  centres. 
A  handsome  marble  fountain  plashes  on  the  square, 


346  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

and  it  is  fronted  by  the  Custom  House,  Exchange, 
and  various  warehouses  and  shipping  offices.  The 
Exchange,  or  Lonja,  was  built  in  the  fourteenth 
century,  and  modernized  in  the  eighteenth,  its  grand 
hall,  one  hundred  feet  long  and  seventy-five  feet 
wide, —  the  Sola  de  Contrataciones, —  being  the 
centre  of  active  business  in  the  afternoons.  The  har- 
bor and  shipping  are  in  front  of  this  Plaza,  with  the 
maritime  suburb  of  Barceloneta,  to  the  eastward,  on 
a  peninsula  projecting  into  the  sea,  the  Mediter- 
ranean surf  washing  its  southeastern  verge.  To  the 
northward  of  the  Plaza,  rises  the  hill  where  the 
hated  citadel  stood,  now  a  pleasant  park  of  seventy- 
five  acres,  having  at  its  main  entrance,  in  grateful 
memory  of  the  man  who  secured  the  removal,  a 
bronze  equestrian  statue  of  General  Prim.  There 
are  palm  houses,  a  conservatory,  museums  and 
zoological  garden.  This  is  the  chief  holiday  resort 
for  the  people.  From  its  northwestern  side  extends 
the  grand  Salon  de  San  Juan,  a  wide  promenade, 
with  four  rows  of  trees  and  adorned  with  statues  of 
prominent  Catalans.  Here  is  the  modern  Palace  of 
Justice,  the  most  elaborate  of  the  new  buildings  of 
the  city.  The  Salon  has,  at  its  northwestern  termina- 
tion, an  Arch  of  Triumph,  erected  in  1888,  at  the 
entrance  of  the  Barcelona  Exhibition.  To  the  east- 
ward, and  overlooking  the  sea,  is  the  Eastern  Ceme- 
tery. It  is  divided  by  high  walls  into  sections,  these 
walls  having  rows  of  oblong  niches,  one  above  the 


BARCELONA  347 

other,  their  narrow  ends  turned  toward  the  walks. 
The  coffins  are  put  in  these  niches,  the  openings 
being  then  closed.  If  the  niches  are  not  purchased 
from  the  city,  the  remains  of  the  dead  are  only  per- 
mitted to  remain  four  years,  when  they  are  removed 
to  a  potter's  field.  Many  of  the  tombs  of  the  wealthy 
have  elaborate  monuments. 

To  the  southward  of  the  Park  is  the  Plaza  de 
Toros,  the  great  "  Bull  Ring  "  of  the  city,  which  will 
accommodate  over  fifteen  thousand  spectators. 
These  bull-fighting  arenas,  where  are  exhibited  the 
great  national  amusement  of  the  Spaniards,  are 
found  in  all  the  prominent  cities  and  towns,  while  in 
smaller  communities  the  fights  usually  are  in  the  mar- 
ket squares,  the  country  having  over  four  hundred 
such  places  for  bull-fighting.  The  Barcelona  arena  is 
encircled  by  seats  for  the  spectators,  the  higher  places 
being  the  choicest,  and  a  barrier  about  five  feet  high 
encloses  the  arena,  having  a  narrow  passage  around 
it.  There  is  a  hospital,  and  also  a  chapel  attached, 
where  the  fighters  partake  of  the  sacrament  and  have 
prayers  before  entering  the  combat.  The  fights  are 
under  the  municipal  guidance,  and  one  of  the  city 
officials  presides,  and  gives  the  signal  to  begin. 
This  national  pastime  of  the  Spanish  people,  despite 
its  brutality,  has  such  a  strong  hold  upon  their 
affections,  that  it  cannot  be  abolished,  neither  the 
government  nor  the  church  being  able  to  make  head- 
way against  it.  A  survival  of  the  Roman  and  Moor- 


348  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

ish  times,  these  fights  were  an  aristocratic  preroga- 
tive for  festal  occasions,  down  to  the  sixteenth 
century,  and  mounted  knights  then  did  the  fighting, 
usually  with  lances,  and  fatal  wounds  were  frequent. 
Now,  the  method  is  less  dangerous  for  the  man,  but 
more  cruel  for  the  bull,  and  its  adoption  dates  from 
about  the  seventeenth  century,  after  which  time  the 
sport  gradually  fell  into  professional  hands.  Sun- 
days and  holidays  are  the  bull-fighting  days,  and 
the  performance  is  generally  omitted  in  winter. 
Andalusia  raises  most  of  the  bulls,  and  the  Duke  of 
Veragua,  the  descendant  of  Columbus,  is  a  prominent 
bull  raiser.  They  are  valued  at  $200  to  $300,  and 
for  several  hours  previous  to  the  fight,  are  kept  in 
dark  stables  or  dens,  being  goaded  into  a  state  of 
excitement  before  being  driven  into  the  arena.  The 
most  agile  bull-fighters  also  are  generally  Andalu- 
sians  and  popular  espadas  or  matadors  enjoy  large 
incomes,  usually  $2,000  to  $3,000,  while  some  celeb- 
rities receive  much  more.  The  luck  of  Rafael 
Guerra  of  Cordova  is  often  cited,  who  was  thirty-two 
years  of  age  in  1894,  and  during  that  season  his  in- 
come was  $75,000,  having  killed  two  hundred  and 
twenty-five  bulls. 

When  the  fight  begins,  the  alguaciles,  or  police, 
ride  around  the  arena,  to  the  sound  of  trumpets,  and 
clear  it  of  people,  after  which  the  bull-fighters  enter 
in  procession,  the  band  playing  a  march.  The 
espadas  walk  first,  followed  by  the  banderilleros,  the 


BARCELONA  349 

picadors  mounted,  and  the  chulos  or  attendants  on 
foot,  with  the  mule  team  used  in  dragging  out  the 
dead  horses  and  bulls.  A  salute  is  given  the  official 
chief,  and  he  then  throws  into  the  ring,  the  key  of 
the  bull-den,  the  toril,  which  being  opened,  an  excited 
bull  rushes  out  into  the  arena.  There  are  three  acts 
in  the  bull-fight.  In  the  first,  the  mounted  picador 
receives  the  attack  of  the  bull,  prodding  him  in  the 
neck  with  a  pike,  and  trying  to  withstand  his  onset, 
though  generally  the  worn-out  horse  the  picador 
bestrides  is  wounded  and  overthrown  by  the  bull, 
both  horse  and  rider  falling  in  the  sand.  The 
chulos  on  foot,  to  worry  the  bull  and  distract  him, 
dexterously  wave  their  red  cloaks,  to  draw  him  off  to 
the  other  side  of  the  arena,  and  enable  the  picador 
to  escape.  This  is  repeated,  and  when  the  bull  is 
sufficiently  wearied  by  the  picadors  and  chulos,  the 
second  act  begins,  the  attack  of  the  banderilleros. 
These  young  and  very  active  gentlemen  meet  the  bull 
at  full  charge,  jump  cleverly  out  of  his  way,  occa- 
sionally vaulting  over  the  barrier  to  escape  his  horns, 
and  do  everything  possible  to  infuriate  him.  They 
stick  their  banderillos  in  his  neck  when  passing, 
these  being  barbed  darts,  having  streamers  of  colored 
papers,  and  they  do  it  from  the  side,  or  even  from 
the  front,  sometimes  sitting  in  a  chair  and  nimbly 
avoiding  the  attack.  Explosive  fire-crackers  are 
often  used  with  these  darts,  and  everything  pos- 
sible is  done  to  anger  and  at  the  same  time 


350  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

fatigue  the  bull.  They  vault  over  his  back  with  a 
pole,  leap  between  his  horns,  and  do  the  most  au- 
dacious and  apparently  reckless  acts,  the  bull,  all 
the  while,  becoming  more  and  more  angry  and  ex- 
hausted. This  having  proceeded  long  enough  in  the 
opinion  of  the  presiding  officer,  the  signal  is  given 
for  the  third  and  last  act.  The  espada  then  appears, 
armed  with  a  short  straight  sword  and  a  red  cloth ; 
presents  himself  in  front  of  the  official  box,  and  an- 
nounces the  death  of  the  bull  in  the  -president's  honor. 
The  object  of  the  espada,  who  begins  teasing  the 
tired  and  very  angry  bull  with  his  red  cloth,  is  to 
get  him  into  position  for  the  death  blow.  When  the 
proper  time  comes,  the  espada,  stepping  quickly  aside 
as  the  bull  rushes  at  him,  plunges  the  sword  into  his 
neck  in  passing,  the  stroke  going  downward  to  the 
heart.  If  this  is  successfully  done  the  bull  falls. 
The  first  stroke,  however,  rarely  succeeds,  and  it  has 
to  be  repeated.  Sometimes  the  espada  receives  the 
direct  rush  of  the  bull,  the  animal  running  on  the 
extended  point  of  the  sword.  The  attendants  bring 
in  the  team,  and  the  dead  bull  and  horses  are  dragged 
out;  the  show  being  soon  renewed  with  a  fresh  bull. 
The  exhibition  continues  until  twilight  ends  it, 
several  bulls  being  killed.  This  butchery,  while  pop- 
ular with  the  people,  is  disgusting  to  many  visitors, 
and  most  tourists  who  once  witness  a  bull  fight  are 
amply  satisfied,  and  do  not  attend  a  second  exhibition 
of  the  national  game. 


BARCELONA  351 

The  true  Catalan  regards  Barcelona,  not  only  as 
the  greatest  city  of  Spain,  but  also  as  the  best  in  the 
world.  Its  later  development  has  been  chiefly  in 
industrial  pursuits,  and  the  large  factories  are  in 
the  suburbs.  These  huge  mills  intermingle  with  the 
country-houses  and  gardens  in  the  northern  suburbs, 
stretching  off  to  the  pretty  valley  of  the  Besos,  which 
has  cloven  a  passage  through  the  high  ridge  of  Monte 
Tibidabo,  northwest  of  the  city,  to  get  out  to  the  plain 
and  the  sea,  most  of  its  waters  being  diverted,  how- 
ever, for  the  uses  of  the  great  municipality.  For 
miles  these  suburbs  and  their  mills  are  passed,  on 
the  railways  going  toward  the  northern  Spanish  bor- 
der. Here  are  Badalona,  the  Roman  Baetulo,  Mon- 
gat  with  its  battle-scarred  castle,  Vilasar  with  the 
atalaya  towers  on  the  coast,  built  long  ago  as  look- 
outs for  pirates,  Mataro,  which  was  the  Iluro  of  the 
Romans,  the  warm  springs  of  Caldetas,  Arenys  de 
Mar,  where  the  Barcelona  merchants  maintain  a 
nautical  school,  and  other  industrious  villages,  the 
coast  railway  piercing  the  great  headlands  that  here 
come  out  to  the  sea,  through  tunnels  and  amid  superb 
scenery.  The  river  Ter  flows  down,  out  of  the  moun- 
tains, from  among  the  coal  and  iron  mines  of  San 
Juan,  and  up  this  stream  are  Vich,  on  a  tributary, 
with  its  ancient  cathedral  of  the  eleventh  century, 
and  magnificent  cloisters ;  and  Ripoli,  now  a  town  of 
coal-mines,  but  formerly  the  seat  of  the  renowned 
Benedictine  Monastery  of  Ripoli,  not  long  ago  sup- 


352  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

pressed.  Wilfred  the  Shaggy  built  its  great  church 
for  the  burial  place  of  the  Counts  of  Barcelona, 
beginning  the  work  in  the  ninth  century,  which 
was  not  completely  finished  until  the  fifteenth.  The 
Ter,  flowing  through  its  splendid  valley  south- 
ward from  Ripoli  to  near  Vich,  turns  eastward  to 
seek  the  sea  at  the  Gulf  de  Rosas.  Its  diversion  is 
caused  by  meeting  the  northern  spurs  of  the  great 
ridge  of  the  Montseny  rising  about  5,700  feet,  the 
imposing  serrated  top  being  seen  from  long  distances 
in  every  direction. 

TO    THE    PYEEWEES. 

Farther  down  the  Ter  is  Gerona,  in  a  valley  sur- 
rounded by  hills,  formerly  a  fortress,  the  town  now 
spreading  over  the  plain  and  up  the  slopes  of  the 
Montjuich  from  the  river  to  the  fortified  heights 
above,  the  picturesque  balconied  houses  hanging  over 
the  stream  and  its  tributary,  the  Ona.  The  Romans 
had  their  camp  and  settlement  of  Gerunda  here,  and 
the  Moors  capturing  it,  the  name  became  Djerunda. 
Charlemagne  took  it,  and  the  Moors  again  got  pos- 
session, but  it  afterward  fell  into  the  hands  of  the 
Count  of  Barcelona.  It  is  noted  for  the  heroic  de- 
fence against  the  French  in  1809,  when  a  small 
Spanish  and  English  garrison  stood  a  siege  for  seven 
months  by  an  army  of  thirty-five  thousand,  finally 
being  starved  out  after  their  ammunition  was  all 
gone,  and  surrendering  in  December,  the  French 


TO  THE  PYRENEES  353 

losing  fifteen  thousand  men  during  the  protracted 
contest.  Gerona,  in  its  palmy  days,  had  a  popular 
university,  and  its  chief  relic  to-day  is  the  cathedral, 
begun  in  the  early  fourteenth  century.  The  nave 
is  unusually  wide,  seventy-three  feet,  flanked  by  huge 
buttresses  supporting  the  roof,  and  having  side 
chapels  between  them.  Beyond  Gerona,  the  railway 
follows  down  the  fruitful  valley  of  the  Ter,  crosses 
it,  and  turning  northward  goes  over  the  watershed 
to  the  Fluvia  vale.  The  snowy  range  of  the  eastern 
Pyrenees  bounds  the  northern  horizon,  and  we  recog- 
nize its  famous  peaks,  the  Canigou,  rising  9,135  feet, 
being  conspicuous,  while  there  is  cleft  down  in  the 
top  of  the  range  the  gap  of  the  Col  de  Portus,  where 
Hannibal  crossed  B.  C.  218.  The  railway  traverses 
the  wide  and  luxuriant  plain  of  the  Ampurdan, 
watered  by  several  streams,  its  vineyards  noted  for 
their  wines.  Its  chief  town  is  Figueras,  having  the 
Castle  of  San  Fernando  occupying  a  hilltop.  This 
place  makes  wine  and  is  said  to  be  exposed  to  fevers. 
There  is,  in  the  spring,  a  pilgrimage  procession,  la 
iramontana,  to  a  mountain  shrine  fifteen  miles  north- 
ward, the  services  continuing  three  days.  In  1612 
we  are  told  such  a  pilgrimage  had  the  effect  of  bring- 
ing the  tramontana,  the  "  north  wind,"  which  chased 
away  a  fever  epidemic,  and  the  ceremony  has  been  an 
annual  duty  ever  since. 

Down  at  the  sea,  the  various  streams  flow  into  the 

semicircular  verge  of  the  wide  and  deeply  indented 
VOL.  1—23 


354:  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

Gulf  de  Rosas,  its  northern  shore  being  the  great 
terminating  buttress  of  the  Pyrenees,  Cap  Creus. 
Beyond  Figueras,  the  railway  pierces  the  ridge  by  a 
tunnel,  and  thus  crossing  the  boundary  enters  France, 
bound  to  Perpignan,  Narbonne  and  the  north.  On 
the  border  of  the  sea,  at  the  Gulf  de  Rosas,  was  a 
place  of  earliest  settlement  of  this  Iberian  shore. 
Ten  miles  east  of  Figueras,  under  the  shadow  of  the 
great  ridge  terminating  in  the  boundary  cape,  is  the 
little  port  of  Rosas,  naming  the  Gulf,  to  which  the 
Greeks  came,  calling  it  Rhode.  On  the  shore  to  the 
southward,  was  the  Greek  colony  of  Emporion,  while 
inland  upon  a  hill,  still  survives  the  castle  succeeding 
that  which  the  Iberians  had  when  the  Greeks  ar- 
rived, now  known  as  the  Castellon  de  Ampurias,  and 
thus  naming  the  Ampurdan.  Various  relics  of  these 
original  settlements  have  been  taken  to  Gerona,  and 
are  in  the  museum  there.  They  were  all  afterward 
incorporated  into  the  Roman  Emporia?,  though  very 
little  remains  of  these  early  Iberian  and  Greek  colo- 
nies but  a  memory.  Over  the  waters  of  the  broad 
bay,  watches  now,  as  in  the  earliest  times  of  ancient 
Iberia,  the  great  northern  buttress  wall  of  the  Pyre- 
nees, its  snowy  summit  line  contrasting  most  beauti- 
fully with  the  charming  blue  of  sky  and  sea. 

See  the  mountains  kiss  high  heaven 
And  the  waves  clasp  one  another. 


THE  RIVIERA 


THE  RIVIERA 

The  River  Rhone — Camargue — Aries — Saintes  Maries — Ai- 
gues  Mortes — Languedoc — Montpellier — Cette — Agde — Bezi- 
ers — Narbonne — Estagel — Perpignan — Prades — the  Canigou 
—  Cap  Cr<§us — Marseilles — If — Toulon — Hyeres — Frejus  — 
St.  Raphael — Liguria — Cannes — lies  de  Lerins — Antibes — 
Nice — Cimiez — Villefranche — Corniche  Road — Beaulieu — Eze 
— Turbia — Monaco — Monte  Carlo — Roccobruna — Mentone — 
Ventimiglia — Bordighera — San  Remo — San  Lorenzo — Porto 
Maurizio — Oneglia — Andrea  Doria — Alassio — Albenga — Sav- 
ona — A  bbissola — Cogoletto — Christopher  Columbus — Pegli — 
Genoa. 

THE   KIVEK   RHONE. 

Thou  Royal  River,  born  of  sun  and  shower 
In  chambers  purple  with  the  Alpine  glow, 
Wrapped  in  the  spotless  ermine  of  the  snow 

And  rocked  by  tempests !  —  at  the  appointed  hour 

Forth,  like  a  steel-clad  horseman  from  a  tower, 
With  clang  and  clink  of  harness  dost  thou  go, 
To  meet  thy  vassal  torrents,  that  below 

Rush  to  receive  thee  and  obey  thy  power. 

And  now  thou  movest  in  triumphal  march, 
A  king  among  the  rivers!     On  thy  way 

A  hundred  towns  await  and  welcome  thee; 

Bridges  uplift   for  thee  the  stately  arch, 

Vineyards  encircle  thee  with  garlands  gay 

And  fleets  attend  thy  progress  to  the  sea! 

The  river  Rhone,  thus-  apostrophized  by  Longfel- 
low,  is    a   mighty    stream.     Beyond   the   mountain 

357 


358  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

boundary  between  Spain  and  France,  the  Mediter- 
ranean is  indented  far  northward,  in  the  Gulf  of 
Lyons,  to  receive  this  great  river.  Beginning  high 
up  in  the  Alps,  the  Rhone  sources  are  near  those  of 
the  Rhine.  It  rushes  a  mountain  torrent  into  the 
Lake  of  Geneva,  which  purifies  its  turgid  waters,  and 
flowing  out  a  limpid  stream,  is  soon  defiled  again  by 
the  muddy  Arve,  and  one  river  after  another,  adding 
further  silt  to  its  swelling  current.  It  breaks 
through  a  deep  gorge  between  the  Jura  and  the  Alps, 
comes  to  Lyons,  receives  the  Saone,  and  turns  south- 
ward a  noble  waterway,  carrying  vast  commerce. 
Flowing  in  a  fertile  plain,  between  enclosing  hills 
and  beautiful  shores,  it  passes  many  cities,  and  be- 
low Avignon  receives  the  Durance  bringing  more  Al- 
pine silt.  Then  it  comes  to  Aries,  and  divides  into 
two  channels,  the  Grand  Rhone  flowing  southeast, 
and  the  Petit  Rhone  southwest  to  the  sea.  Enclosed 
between  them  is  the  flat  delta  island  of  Camargue, 
of  about  three  hundred  square  miles  area,  largely 
lagoons  and  marshes,  and  constantly  growing  from 
the  vast  alluvial  deposits  the  river  carries  down.  A 
new  delta  is  also  forming,  out  in  the  Gulf,  at  the 
estuary  of  the  Grand  Rhone,  and  both  it  and  the 
Petit  Rhone  have  their  mouths  obstructed  by  sand- 
bars. The  French  coast,  both  east  and  west,  is  a 
series  of  lagoons,  and  these  are  availed  of  by  the 
shipping,  which  get  into  the  river  by  means  of  ship 
canals,  the  wide  delta  spreading  far  away  on  either 


THE  RIVER  RHONE  359 

hand.  It  was  here  the  Phoenicians  established  a 
belt  of  colonies,  along  the  coast  and  in  the  lower 
Rhone,  some  dating  as  early  as  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury B.  C.  It  was  by  this  route  into  the  Alps  that 
Hannibal  218  B.  C.  crossed  the  mountains,  attacking 
the  Roman  empire  at  its  centre.  The  Rhone  and 
Saone  were  Caesar's  great  natural  barriers,  defending 
Gaul  against  the  invading  Helvetii,  and  the  whole 
country  hereabouts  displays  Roman  remains. 

Aries  was  the  Roman  Arelate,  rivalling  Marseilles 
in  the  days  oi  the  Caesars,  when  it  was  known  as  the 
Gallic  Rome,  and  had  a  hundred  thousand  popula- 
tion. Here  lived  Constantine,  and  he  completed  the 
Roman  theatre  which  Augustus  began.  Its  vast  am- 
phitheatre, one  of  the  largest  in  France,  is  an  oval 
450  feet  long,  built  in  two  stories  of  sixty  arches, 
Doric  surmounted  by  Corinthian,  and  accommodates 
twenty-six  thousand  spectators.  It  was  converted 
into  a  citadel  afterward,  four  towers  being  built,  of 
which  three  still  stand,  and  its  chief  use  now  is  for 
Sunday  bull  fights.  The  theatre  is  in  partial  ruin, 
for  the  people  took  away  much  of  its  materials  to 
build  churches.  Here  was  found,  in  the  seventeenth 
century,  the  Yenus  of  Aries,  now  in  the  Louvre  at 
Paris.  A  Roman  .obelisk  of  grey  granite,  forty-nine 
feet  high,  stands  in  the  Place  de  la  Republique,  sur- 
mounting a  fountain,  and  adorned  with  bronze  lions. 
Constantine's  fourth  century  palace  is  down  by  the 
Rhone.  The  Roman  cemetery  on  the  eastern  verge 


360  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

of  the  town  —  the  Aliscamps  —  became  so  popular 
for  interment  in  medieval  days,  that  bodies  were 
brought  here  from  great  distances,  Dante's  Inferno 
referring  to  it.  It  was  long  neglected,  but  recently 
has  been  partially  restored.  St.  Paul's  disciple, 
Trophimus,  introduced  Christianity,  and  the  Cathe- 
dral of  St.  Trophimus  was  built  in  the  seventh  cen- 
tury, several  times  rebuilt,  and  its  interior  walls  are 
hung  with  old  tapestries.  Here  was  crowned,  in 
1178,  the  Emperor  Frederick  Barbarossa. 

Aries  looks  out  over  the  flat  broad  delta  of  the 
Rhone,  full  of  water  courses,  and  having  Roman  re- 
mains everywhere.  Upon  the  low  Mediterranean 
shore  of  the  Camargue,  twenty-four  miles  southward, 
is  the  quaint  village  of  the  Saintes  Maries,  named  for 
the  three  Marys  —  Mary  Magdalen,  Mary  of  Beth- 
any, and  Mary  the  mother  of  Jesus.  The  tradition 
tells  that  they  landed  here,  along  with  Lazarus,  St. 
Maximin,  and  their  black  servant  Sara.  Their  relics 
are  in  the  church,  and  in  May  and  October  come 
popular  pilgrimages  to  the  shrines,  while  the  gypsies 
also  flock  here  in  honor  of  the  servant  Sara.  To  the 
northwest  about  twenty  miles,  on  a  lagoon  connected 
by  a  canal  with  the  Rhone,  is  Aigues  Mortes,  named 
from  the  Latin  title  of  the  district  Aquce  Morlua,  or 
the  "  dead  waters,"  referring  to  the  swamps  and 
ponds.  Here  embarked  the  French  king  St.  Louis, 
in  1248,  in  his  crusade  to  the  Holy  Land,  and  again, 
in  1270,  on  his  second  crusade.  He  founded  the 


THE  RIVER  RHONE  361 

port,  and  his  son  Philip  the  Bold,  in  1272,  began  the 
extensive  fortifications,  perfected  by  succeeding 
kings,  which  now  are  a  great  curiosity.  They  are 
on  the  level  land,  a  rectangle  of  1800  by  500  feet, 
with  two  gates,  twenty  towers,  and  embattled  walls, 
rising  in  places  33  feet.  The  Tower  of  Constance, 
founded  by  St.  Louis,  rises  from  the  citadel  at  one 
corner,  while  at  the  opposite  corner  is  the  Tower  of 
the  Burgundians,  who  seized  the  town  in  1421,  but 
afterward  were  overpowered,  slain,  and  their  bodies 
thrown  into  this  tower  for  a  tomb,  being  covered  with 
salt.  The  place  is  quiet  and  gloomy  now,  almost 
the  only  relief  being  a  bronze  statue  of  St.  Louis,  in 
the  public  square. 

The  region  westward  from  the  Rhone,  stretching 
to  the  Spanish  boundary,  at  the  Pyrenees,  was  the 
Province  of  Languedoc,  and  the  Gallia  Narbonensis, 
which  the  Romans  conquered  and  settled  before  the 
days  of  CsBsar.  Its  people,  in  the  course  of  time, 
came  to  speak  a  dialect  of  poetical  rhythm  and  soft 
accents,  now  unfortunately  fading  away.  This  dia- 
lect named  the  province,  for  it  was  called  the  Langue 
d'oc,  because  they  used  the  word  oc  for  "  yes  "  in- 
stead of  oui  as  spoken  by  the  northern  French.  To 
the  westward  in  Languedoc,  and  some  distance  inland 
from  the  Mediterranean,  is  Montpellier,  with  eighty 
thousand  people,  one  of  the  most  prosperous  cities 
of  Southern  France,  a  centre  of  the  wine  trade  and 
maker  of  textiles  and  chemicals,  chief  among  these 


362  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

being  verdigris  made  by  oxydizing  copper  plates  be- 
tween layers  of  grape  hulls.  Seven  miles  away,  on  a 
strip  of  beach  fronting  the  sea,  with  a  lagoon  behind 
it,  is  the  ruined  town  and  old  cathedral  of  Maguelone. 
Here  was  an  ancient  seaport,  which  the  Saracens, 
coming  from  Spain,  seized  and  held  until  Charles 
Martel,  in  737,  captured  and  destroyed  it.  The 
place  recovered,  but  Louis  XIII  not  liking  it,  in. 
1633  completely  destroyed  it,  leaving  only  the  cathe- 
dral. Charles  Martel,  when  he  captured  Maguelone, 
built  Montpellier  inland,  to  avoid  the  sea  rovers,  but 
it  languished,  until  its  Medical  College  was  founded 
in  the  twelfth  century,  bringing  it  fame  and  wealth, 
and  still  existing  in  celebrity,  as  a  University  with 
fifteen  hundred  students,  half  being  in  medical 
classes.  In  the  religious  wars  about  all  the  churches 
in  Montpellier  were  destroyed.  It  was  a  Calvinist 
stronghold  when  taken  by  Louis  XIII,  in  1622,  and 
when  he  entered,  the  king  said  he  could  find  no 
church  in  which  to  say  his  prayers.  There  were 
about  sixty  churches,  the  Calvinists  first  demolish- 
ing those  of  the  Catholics,  and  the  latter  afterward 
retaliating.  Montpellier  has  greatly  .prospered  in 
recent  years,  and  in  its  bright  atmosphere  the  ap- 
pearance is  pleasing,  the  place  rising  from  the  plain 
as  a  grand  amphitheatre  sloping  upward  to  nearly 
200  feet  elevation,  the  high  background  being  the 
splendid  promenade  of  the  Peyron.  This  was  an 
ancient  forum  and  stronghold,  now  completely 


THE  RIVER  RHONE  363 

transformed,  and  having  the  imposing  Chateau 
d'Eau,  a  most  copious  fountain,  to  which  the  water 
is  brought  from  the  hills  eight  miles  away,  by  an 
aqueduct  terminating  in .  a  double  tier  of  arches, 
seventy  feet  high  and  extending  a  half  mile.  The 
aqueduct  supplies  the  city,  and  from  the  fountain, 
the  hill  falls  off  sharply  on  three  sides,  giving  a 
grand  outlook  over  the  spreading  city  below,  upon 
the  broad  plain  of  green  meadows  and  many  lakes, 
stretching  off  to  the  distant  silver  streak  of  the 
Mediterranean. 

Cette,  the  port  of  Montpellier,  is  about  eighteen 
miles  southwest,  on  a  strip  of  land,  between  the  ex- 
tensive lagoon,  called  the  Etang  de  Thau,  and  the 
sea.  Here  is  the  ancient  Mons  Setius,  rising  about 
600  feet,  and  now  called  Mont  St.  Clair,  upon  which 
the  city  is  built.  Cette  is  mostly  modern,  and  its 
harbor  is  composed  of  three  basins,  connecting  with 
the  Etang,  being  the  terminal  port  of  the  noted 
Canal  du  Midi,  constructed  at  the  end  of  the  seven- 
teenth century,  to  connect  the  Atlantic  through 
southern  France  with  the  Mediterranean.  To  the 
southwest,  beyond  the  Etang,  projects  the  Cape 
d'Agde,  and  nearby  flows  the  river  Herault  into  the 
sea,  having  within,  the  harbor  and  port  of  Agde, 
three  miles  inland,  through  which  goes  the  canal. 
An  extinct  volcano,  on  the  edge  of  the  town,  pro- 
vided the  lava  blocks  of  which  it  is  built.  This  was 
the  ancient  Agatha,  there  being  remains  of  old  forti- 


364:  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

fications,  and  its  castellated  cathedral,  looking  more 
like  a  fortress  than  a  church.  It  suffered  in  the  wars 
of  more  than  a  dozen  centuries,  its  chief  history 
being  a  horrible  story  of  sieges  and  sackings  by  Goths, 
Vandals,  Saracens,  Franks,  and  religious  crusaders 
of  various  faiths.  The  Canal  du  Midi  climbs  up 
eighty  feet,  by  a  series  of  locks,  to  the  higher  level, 
and  goes  through  Beziers,  whose  greatest  townsman 
was  Paul  Riquet,  the  builder  of  the  canal,  his  statue 
standing  in  the  Public  Square.  This  was  the 
Roman  Biterra,  and  was  the  scene  of  an  awful 
Albigensian  massacre  in  1209,  when  it  was  captured, 
and  over  twenty  thousand  inhabitants  killed  or  burnt 
at  the  stake.  To-day  it  has  forty  thousand  people, 
and  a  prosperous  wine  and  brandy  trade. 

Fifteen  miles  southwestwrard  is  Isarbonne,  the  ex- 
tensive lagoon,  the  Etang  de  Si j eon,  here  adjoining 
the  Mediterranean.  This  was  ancient  Narbo,  colon- 
ized by  the  Romans  in  the  second  century  B.  C.,  but 
becoming  a  decayed  town  because  its  port  silted  up, 
and  living  now  mainly  upon  its  history  of  over 
twenty  centuries,  and  a  brisk  trade  in  the  highly 
esteemed  "  honey  of  Narbonne."  It  is  built  on  a 
plain  about  five  miles  back  from  the  shore,  with  a 
canal  leading  out  to  the  sea.  In  the  Roman  era  it 
was  surrounded  by  lakes,  having  ample  communica- 
tion with  the  Mediterranean;  it  gave  the  name  to 
Gallia  Narbonensis ;  and  in  the  chronicles  of  that 
time,  was  described  as  a  large  city,  with  temples, 


THE  RIVER  RHONE  365 

theatres,  baths,  triumphal  arches  and  other  elaborate 
structures,  of  which  little  remains.  The  Visigoths 
held  it,  till  the  Saracens  took  it,  and  were  able  to 
beat  off  Charles  Martel,  but  Pepin,  through  treason, 
got  possession  for  France.  The  name  gradually  de- 
veloped from  Narbo  to  Narbonne,  but  it  could  not 
overcome  the  closing  of  the  port.  The  old  Cathe- 
dral of  St.  Just  is  crowned  with  double  battlements, 
rising  130  feet,  and  the  Archbishop's  palace  along- 
side, is  a  medieval  fortress,  having  three  ponderous 
towers.  Southwestward  from  Narbonne  stretch  the 
Corbieres,  an  outlier  of  the  Pyrenees,  and  on  one  of 
the  summits,  rising  2,000  feet,  the  Visigoth  king 
Alaric  had  a  castle,  but  only  scant  ruins  remain. 

The  valley  of  the  Agly,  to  the  southward,  separates 
the  Corbieres  from  the  Pyrenees,  and  here  at  Estagel 
was  the  home  of  the  family  of  Arago,  the  famous 
seven  brothers,  the  town  having  a  statue  of  Frangois 
Arago,  the  most  noted,  born  here  in  1786.  Beyond, 
comes  out  the  river  Tet,  draining  the  northern 
slopes  of  the  Pyrenees,  and  almost  dry  in  summer. 
This  region  was  Roussillon,  and  its  ancient  capital 
Perpignan,  a  strong  fortress  about  seven  miles  from 
the  sea,  defends  the  entrance  to  the  Tet.  Here  lived, 
in  the  twelfth  and  later  centuries,  the  kings  of 
Majorca,  this  being  part  of  their  domain.  King 
Sancho  of  Majorca  built  its  massive  Castill«t  in 
1319,  now  a  prison,  He  also  began  the  Cathedral 
of  St.  Jean,  which  is  still  incomplete.  The  huge 


366  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

nave  is  230  feet  long  and  90  feet  high,  the  altars  are 
gorgeously  decorated,  and  the  reredos  of  the  main 
altar  is  a  splendid  work  in  white  marble,  depicting 
scenes  in  the  life  of  St.  John.  Perpignan,  while  a 
French  city,  has  distinctively  Spanish  characteristics, 
having  been  attached  to  Aragon  for  several  centuries. 
It  has  statues  of  Arago  and  of  Rigaud  the  painter, 
born  here  in  1659.  Up  the  fertile  valley  of  the  Tet  is 
Prades,  whence  various  roads  go  through  the  moun- 
tain passes.  To  the  southward  of  Prades,  rises  the 
noble  peak  of  the  Canigou,  9,135  feet,  its  summit, 
a  narrow  stone  platform  about  25  feet  long,  com- 
manding a  superb  view  eastward  over  the  Med- 
iterranean, displaying  the  coast  all  the  way  from 
Barcelona  to  Montpellier,  a  hundred  miles  off  to  the 
northeast.  Cap  Creus,  twenty-five  miles  southeast  of 
Perpignan,  is  the  great  terminating  buttress  of  the 
Pyrenees,  protruding  into  the  sea,  the  boundary  be- 
tween France  and  Spain. 

MARSEILLES. 

To  the  eastward  of  the  Rhone  delta,  on  a  well 
protected  bay,  is  the  great  French  port  of  Marseilles. 
Hills  separate  the  river  from  this  bay,  and  while 
there  is  some  canal  connexion,  it  is  not  satisfactory, 
and  a  great  work  is  projected,  tunnelling  through 
the  rocks  for  over  four  miles,  at  a  cost  of  $7,000,000 
to  make  a  modern  canal  between  the  great  river  and 
the  port.  The  harbor  early  attracted  the  navigator, 


MARSEILLES  367 

but  the  origin  of  the  settlement,  probably  by  the 
Phoenicians,  is  dim  in  antiquity.  The  location  is 
most  beautiful,  magnificently  surrounded  by  a 
mountain  amphitheatre,  the  luxuriantly  fertile  land- 
scape fronting  upon  the  glinting  sea.  The  records 
go  back  600  years  B.  C.  when  Greek  colonists  from 
Asia  Minor  controlled  the  shore,  their  settlement 
within  the  bay  being  called  Massalia,  and  in  1899, 
the  2500th  anniversary  of  the  colony  was  celebrated 
with  great  pomp.  The  port  afterward  made  alliance 
with  the  Romans  to  control  the  sea,  and  also  colonized 
the  adjacent  shores  and  the  African  coast.  Then 
Julius  Caesar  took  possession  for  Rome,  and  the 
greatly  enlarged  city  became  a  seat  of  Greek  learn- 
ing, whither  the  patricians  sent  their  sons.  There 
had  been  an  early  pagan  altar  erected  to  Baal,  and 
this  was  superseded  by  a  temple  to  Diana,  while 
Neptune  had  one  on  the  shore.  Lazarus,  the  brother 
of  Mary  and  Martha,  is  said  to  have  come  here  and 
lived  in  caves,  that  became  the  catacombs,  over 
which  a  church  was  built,  named  afterward  for  St. 
Victor,  who  arrived  as  a  missionary  preaching 
Christianity.  Rome  fell,  the  Visigoths  succeeded, 
the  Franks  drove  them  out,  and  then  the  Saracens 
captured  the  city,  whose  name  all  the  while  was 
changing,  and  in  the  tenth  century  was  called  Mar- 
seilles. It  went  ultimately  to  France,  adhered  to 
the  lost  cause  of  the  King  in  the  Revolution,  and  was 
savagely  punished.  The  mob  from  Marseilles 


368  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

journeyed  to  Paris,  led  the  attack  on  the  Tuileries 
in  1792,  then  first  singing  the  war  song  of  Rouget 
de  1'Isle,  which  thus  was  called  the  Marseillaise,  and 
became  the  Revolutionary  battle  hymn,  and  ulti- 
mately the  French  national  anthem.  The  conquest 
of  Algiers  by  France,  and  the  opening  of  the  Suez 
Canal,  gave  the  city  a  great  impetus,  and  the  popula- 
tion exceeds  a  half  million. 

Until  1850,  the  port  was  the  "Old  Harbor,"  a 
basin  of  about  seventy  acres  surface  on  the  edge  of 
the  bay,  but  since  there  have  been  vast  improvements. 
This  old  harbor,  completely  landlocked,  has  ancient 
forts  at  the  entrance ;  St.  Nicholas,  built  by  Vauban 
on  a  promontory  at  the  left  hand  side,  and  Grasse- 
Tilly,  opposite,  an  inscription  on  its  tower  recording 
the  founding  of  the  first  settlement.  Out  beyond 
St.  Nicholas,  on  another  promontory,  is  the  Pharo 
Castle,  a  palace  given  the  city  by  the  Empress 
Eugenie,  and  now  a  medical  school.  A  canal  be- 
hind Grasse-Tilly,  leads  northward  to  the  spacious 
"  New  Harbor,"  with  the  protective  breakwater  of 
the  great  Jetee  in  front  facing  the  sea,  over  two 
miles  long  and  costing  $10,000,000.  Almost  the 
only  old  building  remaining  in  Marseilles,  which  is 
now  almost  entirely  modern,  is  the  Church  of  St. 
Victor,  under  the  verge  of  St.  Nicholas.  This 
church  is  a  relic  of  an  Abbey  founded  in  the  fifth 
century,  its  crypt  dating  from  the  eleventh  century, 
and  the  battlemented  towers  from  the  fourteenth. 


.• 

. 


' 

. 
Notre  Dame  de  la  Garde — Marseilles. 


MARSEILLES  369 

The  "  Grotto  of  St.  Lazarus  "  is  in  the  crypt,  and 
contains  a  blackened  statue  of  the  Virgin,  attributed 
to  St.  Luke,  and  a  cross  which  legend  says  was  the 
one  on  which  St.  Andrew  was  martyred.  Pilgrims 
devoutly  reverence  these  relics.  Notre  Dame  de  la 
Garde  rises  steeply  to  the  southward,  with  a  bare 
and  fortified  summit,  where  a  modern  church  has 
succeeded  an  ancient  chapel,  and  has  a  large  bell 
tower  150  feet  high,  upholding  a  colossal  statue  of 
the  Virgin,  the  special  landmark  of  arriving  sailors. 
This  elevation  gives  a  good  view  over  the  city  and 
harbor,  with  the  grand  amphitheatre  of  mountains 
on  the  landward  side,  and  the  broad  and  beautiful 
sea  beyond. 

Upon  the  terrace  overlooking  the  "  New  Harbor," 
where  once  was  Diana's  Temple,  is  now  "  The 
Major,"  the  modern  Romanesque-Byzantine  Cathe- 
dral of  Ste.  Marie  Majeure,  not  yet  completed,  a 
splendid  structure  of  green  and  white  marbles,  460 
feet  long  and  costing  over  $4,000,000.  Its  interior 
has  an  imposing  nave,  the  aisles  surmounted  by 
galleries,  and  the  decoration  is  rich  in  marble, 
mosaic  and  fresco.  The  bronze  statue  of  Bishop 
Belsunce,  the  most  revered  prelate  of  Marseilles, 
stands  in  the  adjoining  square,  recalling  how  he  re- 
mained manfully,  and  practically  alone,  at  his  post 
during  the  appalling  plague  of  1720,  which  de- 
stroyed forty  thousand  lives.  The  modern  Palais 
de  Justice  is  a  splendid  building,  its  vestibule 
VOL.  1—24 


370  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

adorned  with  relief  figures  of  four  law-makers, 
Solon,  Justinian,  Charlemagne  and  Napoleon. 
The  bronze  statue  of  Advocate  Berryer,  who  died  in 
1868,  is  in  front,  The  finest  streets  begin  at  the 
"  New  Harbor,"  the  Cannebiere,  (named  from  the 
Greek  ca/rmabis,  meaning  "  hemp,"  which  designated 
an  ancient  "  rope-walk "  on  the  site)  and  its  pro- 
longation, the  Hue  Noailles,  leading  eastward 
through  the  heart  of  the  city.  At  their  junction  is 
the  Cours  St.  Louis,  where  another  series  of  fine 
streets  crosses  at  right  angles.  These  main  thorough- 
fares divide  the  city  into  four  grand  quarters.  The 
Bourse  is  on  the  northern  side  of  the  Cannebiere, 
having  a  magnificent  Corinthian  portico  of  five 
arches,  adorned  with  sculptures,  and  an  interior 
Exchange  Hall  larger  than  the  Paris  Bourse.  The 
older  town,  northward  from  the  Bourse,  is  a  laby- 
rinth of  small  streets,  adjoining  the  "  Old  Harbor," 
through  which  modern  thoroughfares  have  been 
opened,  their  intersection  at  the  Place  d'Aix,  having 
a  grand  triumphal  arch}  to  commemorate  the  French 
victory  of  the  Trocadero,  near  Cadiz,  in  1823.  It 
has  reliefs  of  Napoleon's  victories,  and  a  later  in- 
scription, testifying  that  Marseilles  recognizes  the 
French  Republic.  The  city  is  proud  of  two  of  her 
sons,  and  their  memorials  are  universal  —  Pierre 
Puget,  the  sculptor  and  painter  of  the  seventeenth 
century,  and  President  Adolphe  Thiers. 

Marseilles  gets  its  water  supply  through  a  great 


MARSEILLES  371 

aqueduct,  bringing  it  from  the  river  Durance,  ninety- 
four  miles,  by  canals,  tunnels  and  aqueducts  to  the 
northeastern  verge,  terminating  in  the  grand  Palais 
de  Longchamp.  Its  centre  is  a  splendid  arch,  con- 
necting spacious  side  buildings,  containing  a  museum 
of  art,  natural  history  and  antiquities,  the  arch  rising 
nearly  130  feet.  The  Palais  has  extensive  pleasure 
grounds,  and  its  front,  on  a  hill  slope  facing  south- 
west, enabled  the  builders  to  construct  an  impressive 
cascade  flowing  down  a  flight  of  steps  into  a  spacious 
basin.  The  arch,  with  its  colonnades,  rises  high 
above,  giving  a  view  over  the  city  and  the  sea.  In  the 
basin,  a  colossal  group  represents  the  Durance,  be- 
tween the  Vine  and  the  Wheat,  upon  a  chariot  drawn 
by  four  bulls.  A  large  part  of  the  water,  brought  by 
the  canal,  is  used  for  irrigation,  so  that  during  recent 
years,  the  arid  soil  around  Marseilles  has  been 
changed  to  prolific  verdure  and  fertility.  The  people 
have  myriads  of  little  gardens  outlying  the  city, 
where  they  erect  cdbanons  of  two  or  more  rooms,  and 
spend  Sundays  and  holidays,  there  being  much 
rivalry  in  cultivation,  and  the  adornment  of  these 
toy  houses. 

There  are  islands  off  the  shore,  the  best  known 
being  the  smallest,  If,  about  two  miles  out  in  front 
of  the  "  Old  Harbor."  Its  ancient  castle,  the 
Chateau  d'lf,  was  made  famous  by  Alexander  Dumas 
in  Monte  Christo,  the  keep,  built  in  the  early  six- 
teenth century,  being  long  used  as  a  prison.  The 


372  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

visitor  goes  out  in  a  steamboat,  and  is  shown  the 
dungeons,  the  elevated  top  of  the  old  keep  giving  a 
good  outlook  back  at  the  great  city. 

THE  NAVAL  STATION  OF  FRANCE. 

Beyond  Marseilles,  the  coast  extends  far  south- 
ward, terminating  in  the  rocky  point  of  Cape  Sicie, 
and  behind  this,  and  forty-two  miles  from  Marseilles, 
is  the  great  naval  port  of  Toulon.  Sicie  is  thrust 
boldly  into  the  sea,  with  protective  forts  upon  its 
cliffs,  and  nature  made,  on  its  eastern  side,  a  mag- 
nificent roadstead.  A  rock-ribbed  projection  east- 
ward forms  Cape  Cepet,  while  to  the  northeast,  Cape 
Brun  extends  southward  from  the  mainland,  the 
outer  harbor  entrance  being  between  them.  Pointe 
Pipady  projects  within,  and  partly  closes  the  en- 
trancej  a  jetty  beyond  making  an  effective  break- 
water. This  spacious  harbor  has  Toulon  on  its 
northern  shore,  there  being  five  principal  basins, 
made  by  the  peculiar  embayed  form  of  the  shore 
line,  all  used  for  naval  purposes,  excepting  a  small 
commercial  harbor.  The  Grande  Rade  and  the 
Petite  Rade,  give  ample  anchorage,  defended  by  the 
batteries  on  the  eminences  all  around,  the  enclosing 
mountains  rising  sharply  to  the  Faran  summit, 
1,800  feet,  and  the  Coudon,  2,300  feet,  both  crowned 
by  forts.  Toulon  is  thus  a  fortress  of  the  first  class 
and  was  always  well  defended.  The  old  town  of 
Six  Fours  is  on  an  isolated  hill,  out  on  Cape  Sicie, 


THE  NAVAL  STATION  OF  FRANCE     373 

being  named  for  six  medieval  forts,  built  to  defend 
as  many  routes  of  approach,  but  now  replaced  by  one 
modern  work.  The  ancient  pilgrimage  chapel  of 
Notre  Dame  de  la  Garde,  is  at  the  end  of  the  cape, 
at  nearly  1,200  feet  elevation,  a  landmark  having  the 
signal  tower  announcing  the  arrival  of  ships. 

In  the  dim  past,  the  Phoenicians  are  said  to  have 
made  their  famous  purple  dyes  on  these  shores,  and 
then  the  Greeks  came,  naming  the  place  Telonion, 
their  Roman  successors  calling  it  Telo  Martius.  It 
was  of  little  pretension,  however,  till  the  eighteenth 
century.  In  1707  it  successfully  resisted  Prince 
Eugene  and  the  Anglo-Dutch  fleets,  and  was  strongly 
fortified  afterward,  but  in  the  French  Revolution,  the 
Royalists  holding  it,  gave  possession  to  the  English, 
in  August,  1793.  The  French  conducted  a  vigorous 
six  weeks'  siege  in  the  autumn,  capturing  it  in  De- 
cember, Napoleon,  then  an  artillery  officer,  winning 
his  first  distinction  in  these  operations.  In  1902,  in 
reconstructing  the  barracks,  were  found  the  bones  of 
over  a  thousand  soldiers  stretched  in  layers,  without 
trace  of  coffins,  the  victims  of  the  siege.  An  elabo- 
rate modern  fountain  has  been  erected,  in  memory  of 
these  wars,  in  the  chief  public  square,  the  Place  de 
la  Liberte.  While  the  population  exceeds  a  hundred 
thousand,  Toulon  has  little  to  show  besides  the  naval 
works.  The  Hotel  de  Ville,  fronting  the  old  quay, 
has  sculptures  by  Puget,  and  in  its  squares,  a  colossal 
bronze,  the  Genius  of  Navigation.  The  venerable 


374  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

Cathedral  of  Ste.  Marie  Majeure,  built  in  the 
eleventh  century,  has  a  modern  fagade  and  belfry, 
with  some  of  the  interior  decorations  also  by  Puget. 
The  extensive  arsenal,  planned  by  Vauban,  and  be- 
gun by  Louis  XIV,  covers  about  a  square  mile,  and 
employs  ordinarily  fifteen  thousand  operatives. 
Every  kind  of  naval  work  is  done  here,  and  numerous 
warships  usually  are  in  the  harbor.  The  spacious 
Seamen's  Hospital  of  St.  Mandrier  is  on  Cape 
Cepet,  nestling  under  a  high  hill,  which  gives  a  fine 
view  over  the  harbor.  The  French  naval  manoeuvres 
are  usually  conducted  in  the  extensive  roadstead,  of 
over  sixty  square  miles  surface,  formed  by  the  four 
lies  d'Hyeres,  stretching  to  the  eastward,  lying  off 
and  beyond  the  long  peninsula  of  Giens,  projecting 
far  into  the  sea. 

In  a  bay  on  the  mainland  of  this  roadstead, 
bordered  by  salt  marshes,  is  the  town  of  Hyeres, 
protected  from  the  northern  winds  by  wooded  hills 
behind,  rising  northeastward  into  the  Maures  moun- 
tains, an  outlier  of  the  Maritime  Alps.  This  is  the 
oldest  of  the  Mediterranean  coast  winter  resorts,  pos- 
sibly now  outshone  by  the  more  fashionable  Riviera 
towns  farther  east,  but  having  many  sojourners.  It 
is  a  quiet  place,  with  magnificent  gardens  of 
oleanders,  palms,  olive  and  orange  trees,  and  is  a 
prolific  supplier  of  Paris  with  early  vegetables, 
strawberries  and  flowers,  chiefly  violets.  The  date 
palm  is  numerous  in  the  street  adornments,  but  the 


THE  NAVAL  STATION  OF  FRANCE     375 

dates  do  not  ripen.  An  imposing  avenue  of  palms 
leads  from  the  railway  station  to  the  town,  and  the 
public  square,  similarly  adorned,  has  a  pyramid 
erected  to  its  great  benefactor,  Baron  Stulz,  a  Ger- 
man tailor  who  made  a  London  fortune,  which  he 
benevolently  invested  at  Hyeres.  The  townsman  of 
chief  renown,  however,  was  the  preacher  Massilon, 
born  in  1663,  his  bronze  statue  standing  in  the 
Place  de  la  Republique.  All  about,  the  hills  and 
shores  are  dotted  with  villas  and  hotels,  and  from  an 
elevation  of  700  feet  the  ruins  of  the  ancient  castle 
overlook  the  town.  OS  the  extensive  roadstead,  and 
enclosing  it,  are  the  four  lies  d'Or,  which  were  the 
ancient  Stoechades,  all  fortified,  but  having  scant 
population.  The  Mediterranean  coast  trends  north- 
east from  Hyeres,  with  many  winter  resorts  along 
the  strand,  and  rising  behind  them  is  the  Maures 
range.  On  its  side,  are  the  ruins  of  the  great 
Saracen  stronghold,  Le  Fraxinet,  built  to  control  this 
district  in  the  ninth  century,  and  most  of  the  villages 
were  originally  Saracen  settlements.  Near  the 
northeastern  extremity  of  the  range  is  Le  Muy,  the 
tower  held  by  the  Provengals  in  1536,  when  they 
tried  to  kill  Charles  V,  who  was  besieging  it.  They 
fired  at  him,  as  they  supposed,  but  killed  instead  the 
noted  Spanish  poet  Garcilaso  de  la  Vega,  whose  gor- 
geous costume  made  them  think  he  was  the  king. 

Fifty  miles  northeast  of  Hyeres,  and  a  mile  back 
from  the  sea,  is  Frejus,  famous  for  Roman  remains, 


376  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

the  mountain  torrent  of  the  Argens  having  silted  up 
the  ancient  harbor.  It  was  Julius  Caesar's  strong- 
hold, the  Forum  Julii,  which  Augustus  extended, 
sending  here  the  galleys  captured  from  Antony  at 
Actium,  31  B.  C.  It  has  dwindled  to  a  town  of 
about  four  thousand  people,  the  old  walls  enclosing 
a  very  much  larger  space  than  now  populated. 
Septimus  Severus  built  the  amphitheatre,  of  which 
the  foundations  and  part  of  the  gallery  are  preserved. 
There  are  Roman  baths,  and  the  Porte  Doree,  lead- 
ing to  the  harbor,  has  been  restored.  The  Butte  St. 
Antoine,  a  large  mound  built  to  protect  the  harbor 
from  the  northwest  winds  blowing  down  the  Argens 
gorge,  still  exists  with  three  towers,  one  having  been 
a  lighthouse,  and  a  similar  mound  is  at  the  eastern 
verge  of  the  filled-up  harbor.  There  are  also  ample 
remains  of  the  old  aqueduct  on  arches  sixty  feet 
high,  which  brought  the  water  twenty-five  miles  from 
the  northeastern  mountains.  At  Frejus  were  born 
Agricola  the  general,  Roscius  the  actor  and  Cornelius 
Gallus  the  poet.  The  adjacent  village  of  St.  Raphael 
is  a  popular  watering  place,  with  a  grand  sea-front 
of  villas  and  foliage-bordered  promenades,  extend- 
ing over  two  miles.  Here  Napoleon  landed  on  his 
return  from  Egypt  in  1799,  and  here  he  embarked 
when  exiled  to  Elba  in  1814.  The  Esterel  stretches 
down  to  the  coast  beyond,  with  splendid  cliffs,  a 
volcanic  formation  of  red  and  gray  rocks  bearing 
forests  of  pine  and  corkwood.  In  it  is  the  diminu- 


CANNES  TO  NICE  377 

tive  but  deeply  indented  harbor  Agay,  which  was 
Ptolemy's  Agathon,  the  bold  headland  of  Cape 
Koux  rising  1,500  feet,  one  of  the  best  outlooks  from 
the  Esterel. 


The  coast,  to  the  northeastward,  makes  a  grand 
semicircle  around  the  pleasant  Gulf  of  Napoul,  and 
we  have  come  to  ancient  Liguria.  This  was  the  strip 
of  land  along  the  shore  from  the  Esterel  to  Genoa, 
enclosed  by  the  Maritime  Alps  and  the  Appenines, 
and  now  called  the  Riviera,  meaning  literally  "  the 
shore."  It  is  mountainous  throughout,  the  high 
ranges  at  the  back  sending  down  their  foothills, 
promontories  and  deep  valleys  to  the  water's  edge, 
and  leaving  here  and  there  a  few  comparatively  level 
spaces  at  the  valley  openings  and  the  mouths  of  the 
torrents.  It  is  rugged,  but  fertile,  has  a  grand  moun- 
tain environment,  and  displays  magnificent  scenery. 
The  climate  is  superb  and  the  slopes  facing  the  south- 
ward have  luxuriant  vegetation,  growing  varieties  of 
fruits,  and  especially  the  olive  tree,  which  is  culti- 
vated in  terraces  upon  the  lower  mountain  sides. 
Charming  villages  nestle  in  the  valleys,  but  the 
streams,  which  are  torrents  in  winter  and  spring,  are 
usually  dry  and  rocky  canyons  in  summer.  Its 
salubrity  and  beauty  have  given  the  Riviera  world- 
wide celebrity,  its  winters  are  genial,  it  has  many 
visitors,  and  there  have  been  developed  famous  water- 


378  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

ing  places  along  the  shore,  attracting  the  health- 
seekers  and  fashionables  who  make  a  whirl  of  gaiety 
throughout  the  season. 

Spreading  along  the  magnificent  hills  enclosing  the 
Gulf  of  Napoul,  its  hotels  and  villas  surrounded  by 
gardens,  is  Cannes,  looking  out  upon  the  sea  and  the 
lies  de  Lerins,  beyond  the  bold  Pointe  de  la 
Croisette  in  front.  A  breakwater  keeps  off  the 
waves,  which  occasionally  get  so  fierce  as  to  batter  the 
sea-wall  protecting  the  Boulevard  de  la  Croisette,  the 
admirable  esplanade  skirting  the  harbor.  The  attrac- 
tive Alices  de  la  Liberte  extend  from  its  western  end 
into  town,  being  adorned  with  a  marble  statue  of  Lord 
Chancellor  Brougham  of  England,  who  began  com- 
ing to  Cannes  in  1834,  made  its  fashionable  reputa- 
tion, and  died  here  in  1868.  Projected  into  the  sea, 
to  the  westward,  is  the  elevated  Mont  Chevalier,  giv- 
ing a  superb  view,  having  around  it  old  Cannes, 
before  it  got  fame,  and  without  much  change  since, 
this  being  its  picturesque  quarter,  the  Suquet.  The 
quaint  thirteenth  century  church  of  Notre  Dame  de 
1'Esperance,  and  the  ruins  of  a  tower  and  castle,  are 
on  the  summit.  Cannes  has  great  antiquity,  the  Sar- 
acens destroyed  it  in  the  eighth  and  tenth  centuries, 
but  it  was  revived  and  colonized  from  Genoa.  All 
around  the  town  the  hill  slopes  are  dotted  with  villas, 
the  country  is  beautiful  and  highly  cultivated,  and 
a  paradise  of  semi-tropical  vegetation.  Oranges, 
lemons,  figs,  almonds,  peaches  and  olives  grow  in 


CANNES  TO  NICE  379 

profusion,  the  gardens  blooming  with  flowers  and 
shrubs,  from  which  perfumes  are  made.  In  a  magni- 
ficent valley  about  seven  miles  from  the  sea,  open  to 
the  southward  and  sheltered  from,  cold  winds,  is 
Grasse  at  a  thousand  feet  elevation,  the  resort  of 
many  delicate  invalids,  who  cannot  stay  near  the 
coast.  It  is  on  an  eminence,  with  steep  and  narrow 
winding  streets,  quaintly  picturesque,  having  tradi- 
tions going  back  to  the  sixth  century,  and  next  to 
Paris,  is  the  chief  manufactory  of  French  perfumes. 
About  sixty  thousand  acres,  in  the  vales  and  on  the 
favoring  hill  slopes,  are  devoted  to  the  cultivation 
of  flowers,  there  being  annually  grown  about  two 
million  pounds  of  roses  and  four  million  pounds  of 
orange  flowers.  One  French  litre  of  essence  is  said 
to  require  twenty-five  thousand  pounds  of  roses  and 
sells  for  $450. 

The  two  lies  de  Lerins,  in  the  offing,  are  now 
pleasure  resorts.  On  St.  Honorat,  the  outermost,  is 
the  Cistercian  Monastery  of  Lerins  which  that  saint 
founded  in  the  fifth  century,  now  an  orphan  asylum, 
having  been  disestablished.  An  old  keep,  among  the 
buildings,  was  long  used  as  a  refuge  from  pirates. 
Ste.  Marguerite,  the  inner  and  much  larger  island,  is 
stocked  with  pheasants,  has  a  picturesque  surface,  and 
commands  an  excellent  view  of  Cannes  and  the 
grand  environment  of  mountains.  Upon  its  northern 
side  is  the  chateau  and  prison-fort  where  the  myste- 
rious "  Man  with  the  Iron  Mask  "  was  confined  for 


380  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

eleven  years  until  in  1698  he  was  taken  to  the  Bastille 
in  Paris,  where  he  died  in  1703.  Marshal  Bazaine, 
when  court-martialled  by  the  French  in  1873  for  the 
downfall  of  Metz,  was  sent  here  a  prisoner,  but 
managed  to  escape  in  August,  1874. 

The  beautiful  Gulf  Juan  is  east  of  Cannes, 
bounded  by  the  verdant  and  villa-crowned  Cape  An- 
tibes,  projecting  far  into  the  sea.  Napoleon,  when  he 
returned  from  Elba  in  1815,  landed  in  this  Gulf,  a 
column  at  Vallouris  village  marking  it.  Antibes, 
on  the  eastern  side  of  the  Cape,  is  a  seaport  created 
by  Louis  XIV,  at  the  Roman  town  of  Antipolis, 
Vauban  having  constructed  its  breakwater,  and  also 
the  picturesque  castle,  Fort  Carre,  overlooking  the 
harbor.  The  coast  trends  northeastward  from 
Antibes  to  Nice,  a  dozen  miles  away,  and  the  splendid 
esplanade  of  the  Front  de  Mer,  gives  a  magnificent 
outlook  over  the  sea,  as  far  as  Nice,  with  the  enclos- 
ing range  of  distant  snow-covered  Alps.  The  tor- 
rent of  the  Var  rushes  down  a  pretty  gorge,  the  most 
important  river  of  the  Ligurian  shore,  and  the 
eastern  French  boundary  before  Nice  was  annexed. 
Eastward  of  the  Var,  the  widespreading  Baie  des 
Anges  receives,  through  a  broad  and  stony  bed,  a 
small  stream  called  the  Paillon.  An  encircling  am- 
phitheatre of  hills  rises  to  the  northward,  culminat- 
ing in  Mont  Chauve,  protecting  the  bay  shores  from 
the  northern  winds,  and  making  a  most  delicious  and 
equable  winter  climate.  In  this  superb  location  is 


CANNES  TO  NICE  381 

Nice,  the  great  resort  of  the  Riviera,  having  a  hun- 
dred thousand  permanent  population,  swollen  in  the 
season  by  the  vast  numbers  of  invalids  and  tourists, 
who  seek  refuge  from  the  inclemency  of  Northern 
Europe.  The  fashionable  period  begins  with  the 
Nice  races,  early  in  January,  and  closes  with  the  Nice 
regatta  in  April,  but  the  place  is  filled  with  visitors 
from  October  until  May,  though  all  vanish  when  sum- 
mer comes.  The  culmination  is  during  the  carnival 
festivities  preceding  Lent.  The  temperature  aver- 
ages 60°,  being  49°  in  winter  and  56°  in  spring. 

Marseilles  colonists  came  to  this  shore,  overpow- 
ered the  Ligurians  and  named  their  settlement 
Nicsea.  It  was  an  active  Roman  seaport,  suffered 
from  Goths  and  Saracens,  and  afterward  in  the 
Provengal  wars,  ultimately  becoming  part  of  the  king- 
dom of  Sardinia,  but  in  1860  being  annexed  with 
Savoy  to  France.  The  Chateau,  a  steep  and  isolated 
limestone  hill,  rising  over  300  feet,  and  extending 
back  some  distance  from  the  shore,  is  the  nucleus  of 
the  older  town.  Formerly  there  was  a  crowning  cas- 
tle, one  of  the  strongest  forts  of  this  coast,  but  it  was 
destroyed  by  the  English  in  1706,  the  ancient  Tour 
Bellanda  being  a  relic.  Its  plateau,  now  a  pleasure 
ground,  gives  a  fine  outlook,  the  precipitous  southern 
slope  descending  abruptly  to  the  sea,  and  from  the 
gusts  of  wind  around  it,  being  called  the  Rauba 
Capeu,  or  the  "  hat  robber."  The  Quai  du  Midi  ex- 
tends westward  from  this  hill  along  the  sea.  front, 


382  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

being  prolonged  toward  the  Var  in  the  Promenade  des 
Anglais.  Famous  sons  of  Nice,  of  whom  the  city 
is  proud,  were  Marshal  Massena,  born  in  1758,  and 
Giuseppe  Garibaldi,  born  in  1807. 

At  the  eastern  base  of  the  Chateau  hill,  is  the 
small  harbor  called  Port  Lympia,  from  a  spring  on 
its  verge,  the  sea  entrance  being  protected  by  break- 
waters. Charles  Felix,  king  of  Sardinia,  made  the 
harbor,  and  his  marble  statue  adorns  the  shore,  under 
shadow  of  the  hill.  The  older  town  is  built  all 
around,  and  on  the  eastern  bank  of  the  Paillon,  but 
the  original  contracted  lanes  are  replaced  by  better 
streets  and  buildings  near  the  shore.  The  modern 
city  extends  westward,  and  the  broad  bed  of  the 
little  river  has  been  availed  of  as  a  site  for  most 
of  the  public  resorts,  the  stream  being  completely 
covered  in,  while  to  the  northward  it  is  bordered  by 
fine  boulevards  leading  to  the  suburbs.  Upon  its  bed 
are  an  extensive  Casino,  the  Square  Massena,  with 
the  Marshal's  bronze  statue,  the  Square  Garibaldi 
with  that  hero's  monument,  and  the  Public  Garden, 
stretching  to  the  sea,  and  having  the  Centenary  Mon- 
ument, commemorating  the  first  union  of  France 
with  Nice  in  1792.  This  region  of  elaborate  artis- 
tic and  horticultural  development,  is  the  chief  resort 
of  the  hosts  of  visitors.  From  the  Place  Massena, 
known  popularly  as  the  "  Stranger's  Quarter,"  be- 
tween the  Casino  and  the  Public  Garden,  the  Rue 
Massena  extends  westward,  prolonged  as  the  Rue  de 


CANNES  TO  NICE  383 

.  France.  Where  they  join  is  the  "  Marble  Cross  " 
marking  the  spot  where  Pope  Paul  III  brought  to- 
gether the  Emperor  Charles  V  and  King  Francis  I, 
in  1538,  to  make  a  peace.  Everywhere,  luxuriant 
foliage  and  flowers  adorn  the  streets  and  gardens. 
The  Promenade  des  Anglais  is  a  magnificent  es- 
planade, fronting  the  newer  town,  curving  with  the 
shore  and  bordered  by  grand  hotels  and  splendid 
villas,  that  have  a  fine  outlook  over  the  sea.  It  was 
built  by  the  English  residents  in  1822  and  later,  to 
give  work  for  the  unemployed  and  hence  the  name. 

The  Roman  town  of  Cemenelum  was  on  the 
northern  hills,  and  here  are  Roman  remains,  in- 
cluding an  amphitheatre  and  baths,  and  a  Temple 
of  Apollo.  There  also  was  a  Temple  of  Diana,  and 
on  its  foundations  the  Capuchin  monastery  of  Cimiez, 
the  present  name,  was  built  in  the  sixteenth  century. 
Now,  the  town  is  an  aggregation  of  hotels  and  board- 
ing houses.  St.  Pons  monastery  is  up  the  Paillon, 
built  on  the  spot  where  the  Roman  Senator  St. 
Pontius  was  martyred  in  the  third  century.  Farther 
northward  is  the  magnificent  outlook  of  Chateauneuf, 
elevated  2,300  feet,  and  now  unoccupied,  but  said  to 
have  been  originally  constructed  by  the  Nicians  as 
a  refuge  from  the  barbarians.  The  huge  Maritime 
Alps,  back  of  Nice,  rise  in  peaks  10,000  feet  high, 
and  are  the  Italian  boundary. 

The  ponderous  marble  promontory  of  Montboron, 
elevated  600  feet,  the  termination  of  a  mountain 


ridge,  separates  the  harbor  of  Nice  from  the  land- 
locked roadstead  of  Villefranche,  to  the  eastward, 
while  the  railroad  connecting  them  goes  through  a 
tunnel  in  the  marble  a  mile  long.  Montboron  is 
strongly  fortified,  and  behind  it  is  the  higher  hill  of 
Montalban  with,  sixteenth  century  defences.  Far- 
ther northward,  the  hill  rises  1,200  feet  as  the  Vin- 
aigrier,  so  called  from  the  sour  grapes  it  produces. 
To  the  northeast,  on  Mont  Gros,  is  the  famous 
observatory,  with  one  of  the  largest  refracting  tele- 
scopes in  Europe,  a  thirty  inch  lens.  The  magnifi- 
cent bay  of  Villefranche  is  the  real  harbor  of  Nice, 
and  the  mecca  of  all  the  navies,  when  their  squadrons 
go  to  this  attractive  coast  for  evolutions  during  the 
fashionable  season.  Villefranche  nestles  deeply 
down  amid  the  encircling  hills,  and  off  the  quaint 
little  town  the  squadrons  execute  their  practice  drills, 
all  hands  enjoying  an  almost  perpetual  picnic,  marked 
by  receptions  and  balls  and  the  important  frivolities 
of  the  social  world.  Thus  this  splendid  district  has 
a  seductive  charm  for  the  pleasure  seekers  of  all 
nations. 

THE    CORNICHE    EOAD. 

The  Mediterranean  coast  eastward  from  Nice, 
fronts  the  Maritime  Alps,  and  is  formed  of  bold 
headlands  and  deeply  indented  bays,  their  surround- 
ing precipitous  hills  rising  in  the  background  into 
towering  mountains.  Climbing  the  Montboron 


THE  CORNICHE  ROAD  385 

ridge  at  the  edge  of  the  sea,  begins  the  celebrated 
Corniche  Road,  from  Nice  to  Genoa,  the  "  Route  of 
the  Cornice."  It  is  a  splendid  highway,  mainly  a 
broad  ledge  cut  out  of  the  rocky  faces  of  the  steep 
marble  mountains,  and  running  along  but  high  above 
the  beautiful  shore.  These  cliffs  slope  precipitously 
down  to  the  water,  their  luxuriant  foliage  contrasting 
with  the  deep  blue  of  the  Mediterranean.  The 
route  originally  was  little  more  than  a  mule  path 
trod  for  centuries,  but  for  military  reasons  Napoleon 
made  it  a  great  highway,  so  that  his  armies  could 
turn  the  Alps  and  march  into  Italy.  Thus  was 
constructed  the  renowned  Road  of  the  Cornice,  which 
the  Riviera  visitors  so  much  admire.  It  winds  a 
steep  zigzag  up  the  eastern  heights  from  Nice,  amid 
luxuriant  vegetation,  and  looks  down  in  retrospect 
upon  the  town  and  the  stony  Paillon  ravine,  and  sea- 
ward far  away  toward  the  distant  shores  of  Corsica. 
Then  crossing  the  top  of  the  promontory,  it  rounds 
the  grand  bay  to  the  peninsula  of  St.  Jean  beyond, 
projecting  far  into  the  sea,  and  having  on  its  eastern 
side  another  wide  bay. 

Here  is  Beaulieu,  a  newer  resort  of  handsome 
villas,  mostly  on  a  promontory  facing  eastward 
toward  the  sea,  and  so  balmy  and  even  warm  is  the 
winter  climate  that  ordinary  hothouse  plants  flourish 
in  the  open  air  in  January.  One  part  of  the  settle- 
ment is  so  hot  all  winter  that  it  is  called  "  Little 

Africa."     The  late  Lord  Salisbury  and  the  Grand 
VOL.  1—25 


386  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

Duke  Peter  of  Russia  set  the  fashion  for  Beaulieu. 
Dark  green  olive  trees  flourish  here  throughout  the 
year,  living  to  a  great  age,  and  some  are  of 
enormous  size.  The  Peninsula  of  St.  Jean  gets  its 
name  from  a  fishing  village  at  the  outer  end,  founded 
in  the  sixteenth  century  by  the  Knights  of  St.  John 
who  had  been  expelled  from  Rhodes.  A  narrow  and 
crooked  subsidiary  peninsula  projects  eastward,  St. 
Hospice,  having  an  old  chapel  and  statue  of  the 
Virgin.  The  famous  road  winds  along  above  the 
sea,  eastward  from  Beaulieu,  reaching  the  village 
of  Eze,  on  a  steep  hill  of  toilsome  ascent.  Here  is 
a  ruined  fort,  said  to  have  been  a  Saracenic  strong- 
hold. Farther  along,  the  rocks  again  project  at 
Cap  d'Ail,  or  "  Garlic  Point "  where  there  are  more 
pleasant  villas.  The  Corniche  road  steadily  climbs 
upward,  reaching  1,800  feet  elevation,  and  being 
somewhat  back  from  the  shore,  upon  the  elevated 
slope,  and  here  it  comes  to  old  Turbia,  whence  the 
visitor  can  look  far  across  at  Monaco,  down  by  the 
shore,  like  a  tiny  model  city  on  the  edge  of  the  deep 
blue  sea.  At  Turbia,  in  picturesque  ruin,  is  the 
Roman  tower  of  Tropaca  Augusti,  built  by  Augustus, 
6  B.  C.  to  mark  the  boundary  between  Italy  and 
Gaul,  and  the  subjection  of  the  Ligurians.  The 
present  tower  in  dilapidation,  was  built  upon  the 
other  as  a  foundation,  in  the  thirteenth  century.  A 
mountain  railway  brings  the  people  up  here  from 
Monaco  and  Monte  Carlo,  to  the  Corniche  road  to 


MONACO  AND  MONTE  CARLO        387 

get  the  magnificent  view  over  the  sea  and  adjacent 
shores  stretching  all  the  way  from  Cannes  to  Ven- 
timiglia.  This  view  is  universally  admired,  and 
Tennyson  in  the  Daisy,  telling  the  story  of  his  wed- 
ding tour,  wrote : 

What  Roman  strength  Turbia  showed 
In  ruins  by  the  mountain  road; 

How  like  a  gem  beneath,  the  city 
Of  little  Monaco,  basking,  glowed! 

MONACO    AND    MONTE    CABLO. 

The  famous  cliff  of  Monaco,  a  curious  and  cir- 
cumscribed peninsula  of  solid  rock,  is  thrust  into  the 
sea  about  nine  miles  east  of  Nice.  It  is  little  more 
than  two  miles  long,  and  from  one-third  to  two- 
thirds  of  a  mile  wide,  being  elevated  200  feet  above 
the  water,  with  an  adjacent  domain  along  the  shore, 
making  about  six  square  miles  of  territory  for  the 
sovereign  principality  of  Monaco,  the  little  capital 
with  its  gardens  and  adornments  being  terraced  on 
the  rock,  a  miniature  town  defended  by  ancient  ram- 
parts. Standing  anywhere  in  this  diminutive  king- 
dom, one  can  shoot  a  rifle  ball  over  the  boundary. 
Scions  of  the  ancient  Genoese  house  of  Grimaldi  rule 
it,  Albert  I  being  the  Prince  who  heads  the  sovereign 
state,  which  issues  its  own  coinage  and  postage 
stamps,  and  has  a  standing  army  of  five  generals  and 
one  hundred  and  twenty  other  officers  and  men.  It 
also  has  a  cathedral  with  a  bishop,  papal  delegate,  vicar 


388  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

general,  several  monsignors  and  numerous  priests. 
There  are  about  sixteen  thousand  population,  and  a 
million  and  a  half  visitors  will  come  in  some  sea- 
sons to  see  this  place  which  has  been  described  as 
"  wonderful  and  wicked."  The  Prince  owes  alle- 
giance to  France,  which  purchased  control,  when 
Nice  was  annexed  in  1860,  paying  $600,000.  The 
situation  is  magnificent,  the  sun  seeming  almost  al- 
ways shining,  the  vegetation  profuse,  and  sky  and 
sea  alike  of  the  richest  and  deepest  blue. 

The  Phoenicians  first  settled  here,  and  then  came 
Greeks  from  Marseilles,  who  built  on  the  rock  a 
temple  to  Hercules  Monikos,  meaning  the  "  isolated 
home,"  whence  the  name  of  Monaco  is  derived.  At 
first,  the  figure  of  Hercules  was  in  its  armorial  bear- 
ings, but  a  monk  was  afterward  substituted.  The 
Saracens  got  control,  and  when  their  power  waned, 
the  first  Grimaldi,  Lord  of  Antibes,  and  his  valiant 
son  Giballin,  drove  them  from  the  Ligurian  shore, 
and  the  German  Emperor  Otho  I,  in  gratitude, 
granted  them  the  Lordship  of  Monaco.  But  their 
chivalry  retrograded,  and  the  rock  became  a  nest  of 
pirates,  levying  toll  upon  all  commerce,  a  right  not 
given  up  until  the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century. 
The  legend  of  Monaco,  for  centuries  has  been :  "  En- 
throned on  a  rock,  I  neither  sow  nor  reap,  yet  I  live 
long."  It  is  said  that  Napoleon,  when  he  landed  on 
this  coast,  returning  from  Elba  in  1815,  encountered 


Casino,  Monte  Carlo. 


MONACO  AND  MONTE  CARLO       389 

Prince  Honore  IV  of  Monaco  travelling  toward  his 
capital,  and  said  to  him :  "  Ha !  you  are  here ;  you 
go  to  Monaco  to  be  enthroned ;  I  go  to  the  Tuileries." 
Thus  Monaco  has  always  existed  by  preying  upon 
others.  The  original  Grimaldi  has  been  described 
as  more  of  a  pirate  than  a  prince,  and  for  seven 
centuries,  his  successors  had  their  galleys  roaming 
the  sea,  their  income  arising  from  the  tolls  and  ran- 
soms of  vessels.  Their  rocky  home  growing  little 
food,  these  adventurers  had  a  varied  existence,  being 
often  in  dire  distress.  Finally,  Genoa,  Nice  and 
Marseilles  united  in  opposing  their  piracies  and  com- 
pelled cessation.  For  over  a  half  century,  the  Grim- 
aldis  waited  half  starved  on  their  rock  for  some- 
thing to  turn  up,  and  it  came  in  1860,  when  the 
noted  M.  Blanc,  driven  from  Homburg  with  his 
gaming  tables,  found  an  asylum  and  renewed  fortune 
at  Monaco.  He  got  a  concession,  running  until  1913, 
agreeing  to  support  financially  the  Prince  and  his 
Government,  built  his  gambling  palace  of  Monte 
Carlo  upon  the  rocky  slopes  of  the  Spelugues,  a  short 
distance  eastward  on  the  shore,  and  converted  the 
place  into  a  paradise.  The  Prince  devoted  most  of  his 
enlarged  revenues  to  the  decoration  of  his  old  capital, 
restored  the  palace,  built  the  sumptuous  cathedral 
and  various  beneficent  structure*.  Thus  Monaco  still 
lives,  the  world  yet  contributing  to  the  Grimaldis, 
and  after  1913  some  other  method  of  doing  this  will 


390  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

probably  be  devised.  Every  new  attraction  is 
availed  of,  and  in  1909  the  modern  quay  of  the  little 
port  was  fitted  up  for  aviators. 

Monaco  proper,  the  older  town,  is  situated  pic- 
turesquely on  the  promontory,  while  the  new  settle- 
ment is  around  the  bay,  a  much  larger  town  of  huge 
hotels  and  villas,  stretching  along  the  shore  to  and 
beyond  the  Monte  Carlo  Casino.  Everywhere  are 
orange  groves  and  luxuriant  gardens,  while  behind 
the  town  and  promontory  rise  the  towering  heights 
of  the  Mont  Tete  de  Chien,  elevated  1,900  feet,  and 
the  Mont  de  la  Justice.  Thus  the  background  is 
magnificently  terraced  up  to  Turbia  and  the  Corniche 
Road,  the  mountain  railway  climbing  up  there  along 
the  slope  of  a  pretty  ravine.  Upon  the  Monaco  rock, 
the  Prince's  palace  occupies  the  landward  end,  with 
the  town  to  the  southward.  This  palace  has  crenel- 
lated towers,  but  has  been  modernized,  and  there  is 
a  splendid  view  from  the  parapet.  The  interior  is 
superbly  decorated,  the  frescoes  representing  the 
feats  of  Hercules  and  also  of  the  Grimaldis,  with  a 
triumphal  procession  of  Bacchus  by  Caravaggio. 
The  Duke  of  York's  suite  of  rooms,  is  named  for  the 
brother  of  George  III,  who  died  here.  In  the  palace 
square  are  ancient  guns  presented  by  Louis  XIV, 
and  here  the  entire  standing  army  is  regularly 
mustered  in  review,  for  the  delectation  of  the  visitors 
—  the  soldiers  in  the  Grimaldi  colors,  light  blue  with 
red  and  white  facings,  and  the  gendarmes  in  dark 


MONACO  AND  MONTE  CARLO       391 

blue  with  cocked  hats  and  swords.  The  old  town  is 
a  collection  of  quaint  buildings  on  narrow  and 
crooked  streets,  with  solid  ramparts  crowning  the 
rock,  numerous  churches  and  shrines,  the  noble 
cathedral,  and  a  fine  road  winding  down  the  eastern 
slopes  to  the  settlement  and  harbor  below.  Monaco 
is  regarded  as  the  cleanest  and  best  policed  city  of 
the  Riviera. 

Gambling  is  prohibited  bj  law  in  Monaco,  and 
the  law  is  strictly  enforced,  for  the  good  reason  that 
the  right  is  sold  for  a  concession  which  keeps  the 
whole  government  in  operation.  About  a  mile  east 
of  the  capital  is  the  precipitous  slope  of  the  flat- 
headed  cape  where  most  of  the  old-time  pirates  dwelt, 
and  called  from  time  immemorial  the  Spelugues,  or 
the  "  Plain  of  the  Robbers."  It  then  was  a  mass  of 
barren  rocks,  but  a  road  was  opened  to  Mentone,  and 
convict  labor  employed  to  carry  soil  thither,  and  on 
it  in  1858  the  Casino  was  begun,  supervised  by 
Charles  Gamier  from  Paris,  and  it  has  been  de- 
veloped with  great  magnificence.  It  was  named 
Monte  Carlo  from  the  Prince  of  tnat  name,  Charles 
III,  who  for  twenty-five  years  before  his  death  in 
1889  was  blind,  living  most  of  the  time  a  recluse. 
To  the  gaming  establishment,  thus  set  up,  came  the 
rich,  the  gay  and  the  frivolous  from  all  the  world. 
It  is  a  magnificent  establishment,  mounted  high  on 
the  rock,  the  beautiful  terrace  and  gardens  having 
a  superb  outlook  over  the  sea.  All  around  and  be- 


392  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

hind,  on  the  shore,  the  eminences  and  slopes,  are 
hotels  and  villas,  mostly  white  structures  embosomed 
in  verdure,  and  having  to  the  northward  the  enclos- 
ing border  of  the  distant  gray  Alpine  peaks. 

When  M.  Blanc  died  he  left  a  fortune  of  $12,000,- 
000,  and  in  November,  1907,  his  granddaughter  and 
heiress,  Princess  Marie  Bonaparte,  married  Prince 
George,  the  second  son  of  the  King  of  Greece,  then 
the  high  Commissioner  of  the  European  Powers  in 
Crete.  The  Casino  is  now  owned  by  a  corporation 
with  $3,000,000  capital,  the  shares  being  listed  on 
the  Paris  Bourse.  No  Monaco  inhabitant  can  gam- 
ble, only  strangers  being  admitted  to  the  gaming 
tables.  The  railway  brings  the  visitors  to  the  foot 
of  the  rock,  and  they  mount  to  the  terrace  and  gar- 
dens, by  a  grand  stairway  or  an  excellent  road.  Ad- 
mission is  free,  but  the  stranger  must  present  his 
card ;  the  games  played  are  "  Roulette  "  and  "  Trente 
et  Quarante  " ;  and  the  stakes  are  limited  —  in  the 
former  not  less  than  5  francs  nor  more  than  6,000 
francs,  and  20  to  12,000  francs  in  the  latter.  The 
gaming  is  profitable  for  the  bank,  despite  the  expense 
of  keeping  up  the  establishment.  The  corporation 
owning  the  Casino  is  the  "  Societe  des  Bains  de  Mer 
et  Cercle  Strangers,"  which  is  translated  to  mean  the 
"  Society  of  Sea  Bathing  and  Foreigners'  Club."  In 
1905  it  did  business  producing  $8,000,000  revenues 
and  expended  $2,400,000,  so  that  $5,600,000  profit 


MONACO  AND  MONTE  CARLO        393 

remained.  The  shares  are  $100  par,  quoted  up  to 
$700  at  times  and  paying  dividends  of  $40  to  $50. 
There  are  no  taxes  in  Monaco  as  this  company  pays 
all  expenses  of  government,  provides  free  schools, 
fire  protection,  courts,  light,  water  and  sewage,  sup- 
ports the  whole  official  staff,  army,  gendarmes  and 
police,  gives  $50,000  to  the  manager  of  the  theatre, 
a  similar  amount  to  the  orchestra,  and  about  $300,- 
000  to  the  croupiers  and  other  employes  of  the  Casino. 
It  does  all  the  policing  and  cleaning  of  the  town,  sup- 
ports the  jail,  and  makes  all  the  improvements.  The 
Prince  gets  $350,000  annual  "  rent,"  the  President 
of  the  Casino  $20,000,  the  Director  General  $8,000, 
and  the  other  Directors  $4,000.  The  army  and 
court  expenses  are  provided  for  by  $125,000  ad- 
ditional, $500,000  are  devoted  to  amusements,  and  to 
keep  up  the  buildings  and  gardens  costs  $150,000 
more.  There  are  over  sixty-five  hotels  in  the  place, 
but  the  visitors  support  all  these,  and  building  lots 
sell  at  prices  rivalling  Broadway  and  Fifth  Avenue 
in  New  York,  or  Broad  and  Chestnut  Streets  in 
Philadelphia. 

The  "  Societe "  has  its  official  newspaper  organ, 
the  "  Rouge  et  Noir,"  reporting  the  doings  of  the 
gay  world  at  Monte  Carlo,  and  it  also  gives  a  "  sub- 
vention to  the  press  "  for  keeping  quiet,  of  $100,000 
to  $150,000  annually,  out  of  which  one  Paris  journal 
is  said  to  draw  about  $15,000.  Pensions  are  also 


394  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

paid  once  rich  men  who  lost  their  fortunes  at  the  ta- 
bles, and  to  people  who  go  broke  and  cannot  get  home 
unless  helped.  One  Englishman  is  referred  to,  who 
lost  $400,000  and  gets  $50  a  week.  There  also  is  a 
mysterious  tale  at  Monaco  of  an  "  etranger "  who 
came  from  Chicago,  played  all  day,  won  $100,000, 
and  then  got  out  of  town,  giving  them  no  chance  to 
win  back.  The  people  who  come  to  Monaco  with 
schemes  to  "  break  the  bank  "  are  myriad,  but  some- 
how they  do  not  do  it.  No  finer  place  exists  in  the 
world,  for  the  "  Societe  "  knows  it  must  keep  up  the 
attractions.  All  this  goes  along  in  a  region  of  sur- 
passing beauty,  which  Tennyson  years  ago  described 
as  "  a  gem,  basking,  glowing  in  the  sunlight."  The 
buildings  and  grounds  are  embellished  in  every  way. 
There  are  reading  and  conversation  rooms,  a  picture 
gallery,  winter  garden,  tennis  courts  and  all  kinds 
of  amusements,  while  outside  the  Casino  entrance  are 
imposing  statues  of  Music,  executed  by  Sara  Bern- 
hardt  and  Dancing  by  Gustave  Dore.  The  gaming 
proceeds  amid  the  most  gorgeous  beauties  of  nature, 
developed  in  the  richest  glow  of  light  and  color,  with 
the  scent  of  magnolias  and  orange  blossoms,  plashing 
fountains,  the  sound  of  delicious  music,  and  the  gen- 
tle murmur  of  the  deep  blue  Mediterranean  down  by 
the  curving  shore.  This  paradise  has  been  well 
klescribed  as  the  Garden  of  Eden  of  the  modern  world, 
but  the  thought  of  how  it  is  maintained  gives  a  force- 
ful reminder  of  Poe's  "  City  in  the  Sea  " : 


Gambling  Roqm,  Casino,  Monte  Carlo. 


MENTONE  TO  SAN  REMO  395 

When,   amid  no   earthly  moans 

Down,   down,   that  town  shall   settle  hence, 

Hell,  rising  from  a  thousand  thrones, 
Shall  do  it  reverence. 

MENTONE    TO    SAN    BE.MO. 

Cape  Martin  is  another  bold  promontory  east  of 
Monte  Carlo,  through  which  the  railway  passes  in  a 
tunnel,  while  the  Corniche  Road,  approaching  nearer 
the  sea,  zigzags  over  the  top.  Here  is  Roccabruna, 
surrounded  by  orange  and  lemon  groves,  and  having 
high  above  a  ruined  castle.  Fine  old  trees  cover  the 
cape,  making  a  park  for  the  hotel  on  its  extremity,  a 
signal  tower  being  on  its  highest  point,  with  the  re- 
mains of  an  ancient  convent.  The  Villa  Cyrnos, 
overlooking  the  sea  from  the  western  slope,  is  one  of 
the  homes  of  Empress  Eugenie.  Another  ridge  pro- 
jects to  the  eastward,  with  a  gentle  bay  on  either 
hand,  and  here  upon  the  summit  and  its  slopes  is 
Mentone,  the  little  harbor  having  a  protective  break- 
water with  a  lighthouse.  Small  torrents  have  cut 
down  picturesque  ravines  in  the  enclosing  hills,  and 
the  beauty  of  the  situation  has  made  another  popular 
Riviera  resort,  embosomed  in  lemon  and  orange 
groves,  with  figs  and  olives,  and  sometimes  selling 
a  crop  of  forty  million  lemons.  This  place  was 
originally  held  by  the  Grimaldis,  but  became  inde- 
pendent in  1848,  and  now  belongs  to  France.  Steep 
and  tortuous  streets  on  the  top  and  sides  of  the  ridge, 
make  the  older  town,  with  St.  Michael's  Church  con- 


396  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

spicuous,  reconstructed  after  its  partial  ruin  by  the 
earthquake  of  1887.  The  magnificent  tropical  gar- 
dens, covering  sixty  acres,  on  the  slopes  stretching 
down  to  the  sea,  are  the  finest  on  the  Riviera.  Along 
the  bay  east  of  the  ridge,  is  the  Garavan,  and  here 
are  the  partly  destroyed  grottoes  of  the  Rochers- 
Rouges,  or  the  "  Red  Rocks,"  where  prehistoric 
skeletons  were  found  that  are  exhibited  in  the  Hotel 
de  Ville. 

The  torrent  of  St.  Louis  rushes  down  into  this  East 
bay,  the  Corniche  Road  being  carried  over  the  gorge 
by  an  airy  bridge  more  than  200  feet  high.  This 
torrent  is  the  boundary  between  France  and  Italy, 
and  beyond  it,  the  railway  train  goes  through  the 
marble  ridges  by  repeated  tunnels,  with  the  famous 
road  mounting  by  successive  inclines  and  windings 
over  their  tops,  and  the  Italian  fortress  of  Ventimig- 
lia  is  reached  where  the  customs  officers  appear.  Its 
name  is  a  corruption  of  its  Roman  title,  Albium  In- 
termilium,  when  it  was  the  ancient  capital  of  the 
Ligurian  tribe,  the  Intermelii.  Two  streams,  the 
Roya  and  Neuri,  flow  over  wide  stony  beds,  insignifi- 
cant during  most  of  the  year,  but  raging  torrents 
when  the  mountain  snows  are  melting,  and  Ventimig- 
lia  grandly  covers  the  hill  top  rising  from  their 
ravines,  the  cathedral  crowning  the  summit,  and  on 
a  commanding  height  beyond  being  the  ruins  of  the 
old  Castle  d'Appio,  once  their  chief  defence. 

Bordighera,  famous  for  its  palms,  is  three  miles 


MENTOXE  TO  SAN  REMO  397 

eastward.  It  proudly  crowns  the  rocky  elevation  of 
the  Capo  di  Ampeglio,  its  memory  being  of  the  time 
when  it  was  a  republic,  and  ruled  several  subject 
towns.  Now  it  is  a  favorite  winter  resort,  and  its 
hotels  and  villas  spread  along  the  shore  below  the 
heights,  excelling  in  flower  gardens  and  date  palms, 
their  branches,  supplied  to  the  churches  for  Palm 
Sunday,  being  its  largest  product.  Some  of  these 
palm  trees  are  a  thousand  years  old,  and  there  are 
more  of  them  in  these  magnificent  groves  than  in 
Judea,  where  they  were  so  numerous  that  they  be- 
came the  national  emblem.  The  palm  leaves  annu- 
ally blessed  at  St.  Peter's  in  Rome  are  supplied  from 
here,  this  service  originating  when  the  obelisk  of 
Heliopolis  was  brought  from  Egypt  to  Rome  in  1586, 
by  Pope  Sixtus  V,  to  be  erected  in  the  Piazza  of 
St.  Peter's.  A  great  crowd  gathered,  and  silence  was 
enjoined  under  penalty  of  death.  At  the  critical 
moment  when  being  swung  in  place,  the  ropes  were 
strained  and  it  was  feared  the  obelisk  would  fall. 
Then  a  sailor  in  the  crowd  —  Bresca  of  San  Remo 
—  disregarding  the  penalty,  shouted  "  Acqua  alle 
funi  " — "  Wet  the  ropes !  "  This  was  done,  the 
ropes  contracted,  and  the  monolith  was  saved  and 
placed  in  its  present  position.  The  bold  sailor  was 
pardoned,  and  asked  what  reward  he  wished.  He 
desired  to  provide  the  Easter  palms  at  Rome,  and  the 
privilege  is  still  held  by  his  descendants  at  Bordi- 
ghera. 


398  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

Beyond  the  villa-bordered  bay  of  Ospedaletti, 
rises  the  high  promontory  of  Cape  Nero,  having  an- 
other beautiful  bay  on  the  farther  side.  Here,  be- 
tween the  ravines  of  two  mountain  streams,  is  San 
Eemo,  the  special  refuge  of  the  most  delicate  in- 
valid, as  it  has  the  balmiest  climate  on  this  favored 
shore.  Olive  groves,  with  houses  embosomed,  cover 
the  valleys  and  lower  slopes,  and  forests  and  moun- 
tain flora  are  above,  the  ranges  rising  in  the  back- 
ground to  about  8,000  feet.  The  old  town  is  on  the 
hill  between  the  torrents,  the  narrow  and  stair-like 
streets  descending  the  slopes,  with  tall  houses,  some 
painted  in  gay  colors,  having  flying  buttresses  and 
arched  gateways,  while  flights  of  steps  abound. 
High  above  some  of  the  streets,  the  tops  of  the 
houses  are  connected  by  masonry  arches,  designed  to 
keep  them  from  being  thrown  down  by  earthquakes, 
frequent  on  this  coast.  The  newer  town  along  the 
shore  and  on  the  enclosing  hills,  is  all  the  growth  of 
the  last  half-century.  Its  gorgeous  modern  street, 
the  Via  Vittorio  Emanuele,  is  resplendent  with 
shops.  The  small  harbor  has  a  protecting  break- 
water, and  on  the  hill,  the  landmark  for  the  mariner, 
is  the  white  and  dome-crowned  church  of  Madonna 
della  Costa,  the  venerated  shrine  of  the  ancient 
town. 

San  Remo  was  the  Grecian  Leucothea,  and  the 
Roman  Matistra,  being  early  Christianized  by  St. 


MENTONE  TO  SAN  REMO  399 

Ormisdas  and  St.  Sirus,  its  Cathedral  of  St.  Siro 
being  named  after  the  latter.  The  barbarians  got  it, 
and  then  the  Saracens,  but  when  they  were  expelled 
from  Liguria,  the  place  took  the  name  of  San  Romolo 
from  a  sixth  century  bishop,  his  saint's  day,  October 
13th,  being  its  special  fete.  The  name  finally  was 
changed  to  San  Remo,  and  the  Genoese  got  posses- 
sion in  the  eighteenth  century.  Proud  of  their  de- 
scent from  the  ancient  Ligurians,  the  people  are 
patriotic,  and  though  many  emigrate  to  seek  fortunes 
elsewhere,  they  usually  return  to  end  their  days  on 
these  sunny  shores.  Several  villas,  adorned  with  the 
gayest  colors,  have  been  built  by  townsmen  who  got  a 
competence  in  far-away  America.  To  the  eastward 
is  the  high,  foliage-covered  promontory  of  Capo 
Verde,  surmounted  by  the  conspicuous  church  of  the 
Madonna  della  Guardia,  seen  from  afar,  the  railroad 
being  tunnelled  through  the  marble  cliff  beneath. 
Beyond,  the  shore  line  trends  to  the  northeast  and 
olive  groves  are  everywhere,  the  oils  being  the  chief 
export.  This  district  was  devastated  by  earthquakes 
during  the  last  century,  the  worst  one  in  1887.  Back 
of  the  cape,  up  a  broadening  valley,  and  on  an  emi- 
nence, are  the  ruins  of  Bussana,  then  destroyed. 
The  coast  has  at  intervals  low  and  ponderous  towers, 
built  a  thousand  years  ago,  for  defence  against  the 
Saracens,  and  some  are  dwellings  now.  Numerous 
torrents  flow  out  through  wide  and  stony  ravines, 


400  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

and  alongside  one  is  San  Lorenzo,  on  a  cliff  be- 
side the  sea,  with  its  tall  campanile  tower,  of  which 
Tennyson  wrote  in  the  Daisy: 

What  slender  campanilii  grew 
By  bays,  the  peacock's  neck  in  hue, 
While  here  and  there,  on  sandy  beaches, 
A  milk-belled  amaryllis  blew! 

Beyond,  and  each  with  a  busy  harbor,  are  Porto 
Maurizio  and  Oneglia,  which  export  the  finest  olive 
oils,  the  entire  country  abounding  in  olive  groves. 
The  rude  Mediterranean  coasters  move  about,  with 
their  picturesque  lateen  sails,  and  manned  by  dark- 
eyed  swarthy  sailors,  apparently  the  same  now  as 
during  remote  centuries.  Oneglia  was  the  birthplace 
in  1466  of  the  famous  Genoese  admiral  Andrea 
Doria,  who  served  the  French  king  Francis  I,  but 
afterward,  in  1528,  delivered  Genoa  from  the  French 
rule.  He  then  assembled  the  populace,  and  sacrific- 
ing personal  ambition,  recommended  the  formation 
of  the  Genoese  republic,  which  continued  till  1815. 
Doria  was  made  Censor  for  life,  with  the  title  of 
"  Father  and  Liberator  of  his  Country."  He  con- 
ducted many  campaigns,  conquered  the  pirates,  de- 
feated the  Turks,  and  after  a  very  active  life,  made 
his  last  voyage  when  85  years  old.  Doria  was  the 
great  Christian  champion  on  the  Mediterranean,  and 
the  unrelenting  foe  of  the  Moslem.  In  1556,  at  the 
age  of  90,  he  resigned  all  his  offices,  and  died  in  1560 


APPROACHING  GENOA  401 

aged  94.     Ariosto  sang  his  praises,  and  he  passed 
his  later  years  in  and  near  Genoa. 

APPEO ACHING    GENOA. 

The  magnificent  curve  of  the  Gulf  of  Genoa,  in  its 
enclosure  of  mountains,  grandly  rounding  from  the 
northwest  to  the  southeast,  presents  a  most  beautiful 
view  over  the  Mediterranean.  Here  is  Alassio, 
named  from  the  daughter  of  the  Emperor  Otho,  who 
fled  here  to  be  near  her  chosen  lover.  Albenga,  be- 
yond, was  the  Roman  Albingaunum,-  and  has  the 
ruins  of  a  bridge  built  by  Hadrian,  which  now  spans 
only  a  dry  meadow  where  then  was  a  stream.  Its 
noble  cathedral,  with  impressive  f  agade  and  crowning 
towers,  stands  on  the  site  of  a  heathen  temple.  There 
are  unhealthy  marshes  here,  so  that  the  expression  is 
used  of  the  "  Albenga  face,"  for  anyone  whose  ap- 
pearance is  commiserated.  In  all  the  villages  along 
this  shore  are  churches  and  hospitals  built  by  the 
generosity  of  the  Dorias.  Twenty-seven  miles  from 
Genoa  is  Savona,  the  largest  town  in  this  part  of  the 
Riviera,  having  a  handsome  cathedral  and  a  busy 
harbor,  protected  by  a  fort.  Nearby,  the  torrent 
Senscobbia  flows  out  with  Abbissola  on  its  shores, 
where  Popes  Sixtus  IV  and  Julius  II  were  born. 
Seven  miles  farther,  among  the  rocks,  are  the  ship- 
yards of  Varrazze,  building  vessels  for  Genoa,  about 
in  the  same  way  as  for  centuries.  In  these  shipyards 

Columbus  is  said  to  have  first  been  inspired  to  become 
VOL.  1—26 


402  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

a  sailor.  At  Cogoletto,  adjacent,  his  birthplace  is 
claimed,  and  a  monument  was  erected  in  1888, 
though  this  claim  is  probably  erroneous,  as  he  is  be- 
lieved to  have  been  born  in  Genoa,  about  1426. 
When  he  was  very  young,  however,  the  family  re- 
moved here.  The  old  house,  claimed  as  his  birth- 
place, bears  this  inscription: 

Travellers,  stop  at  this  house! 

It  was  here  that  Christopher  Columbus, 

The  greatest  man  in  the  world, 

First  saw  the  light, 

Here  in  this  humble  house! 

There  was  only  one  world: 

This  man  spoke  and  there  were  two. 

A  noisy  torrent  rushes  through  the  village,  and  ser- 
pentine rocks  environ  it.  Tennyson  was  here,  and  in 
the  Daisy  pays  his  devoirs  to  the  Columbian  memory : 

Now,  pacing  mute  by  ocean's  rim; 
Till  in  a  narrow  street  and  dim, 
I  stayed  the  wheels  at  Cogoletto, 
And  drank,  and  loyally  drank,  to  him. 

The  Milk  River,  the  Fiume  di  Lette,  pours  wildly 
down  the  marble  hills,  and  out  through  the  opening 
is  got  a  splendid  view  of  the  quays  and  palaces  of 
"  Genova  La  Superba,"  seen  far  over  the  water,  and 
up  the  heights  behind.  We  are  practically  in  the  city 
suburbs,  and  come  at  Pegli  to  about  the  last  resort  on 
this  noble  Riviera  shore,  where  the  winter  sojourner 
lingers.  Luxurious  villas  are  dotted  on  the  Pegli 
hills  in  lovely  grounds,  originally  homes  of  the 


THE  CHIEF  SEAPORT  OF  ITALY  403 

Grimaldis,  the  Dorias,  the  Pallivicini  and  others,  who 
retired  here  from  the  city.  The  decoration  is  in 
the  florid  Italian  fashion,  and  the  landscape  garden- 
ing shows  that  the  aim  in  this  warm  climate,  is  to 
create  luxuriant  shade  and  ample  moisture,  with 
fountains  of  running  waters  amid  the  delicious  vege- 
tation. Here  is  the  famous  Villa  Doria  where  the 
Admiral  passed  the  evening  of  his  days,  its  grounds 
stretching  down  to  the  border  of  the  sea,  and  dis- 
playing most  lovely  views  of  mountain,  coast  and 
city.  A  castle  crowns  the  summit  of  the  Villa  Palli- 
vicini, the  surface  decorations  representing  a  siege, 
with  a  mausoleum  for  the  fallen  heroes. 

THE  CHIEF  SEAPORT  OF  ITALY. 

The  grand  semicircular  Bay  of  Genoa  is  thrust 
far  up  from  the  Ligurian  Sea,  into  the  very  bosom 
of  the  Alps.  At  the  apex  is  the  little  harbor  which 
made  the  port  of  Genoa,  and  the  noble  shores  stretch- 
ing for  miles  away  toward  the  southwest  and  south- 
east, on  either  side  of  the  famous  city,  look  out  upon 
each  other,  and  are  known  as  the  Riviera  di  Ponente, 
or  the  "  setting  sun,"  toward  the  west ;  and  the 
Riviera  di  Levante,  the  "rising  sun,"  toward  the 
east.  The  approach  to  Genoa  from  the  sea  is  mag- 
nificent. The  original  little  port  has  been  extended 
by  artificial  breakwaters,  and  is  crowded  with  ves- 
sels, while  along  the  narrow  strip  of  comparatively 
level  land  upon  the  shore,  the  city  spreads  from  the 


404:  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

noble  lighthouse  on  the  west,  to  the  ravine  of  the 
Bisagno  on  the  east.  From  this,  strip,  there  rises  on 
the  hill  slopes  a  mass  of  marble  palaces,  gardens, 
streets  and  houses,  stretching  far  away  to  the  cul- 
minating point  of  the  "  Spur  "  on  Monte  Peraldo, 
elevated  1,650  feet,  where  is  the  great  fort  of 
Sperone.  The  higher  distant  Alps  form  the  splendid 
background  to  this  noble  view,  which  is  enhanced  by 
the  many  palaces,  erected  on  numerous  eminences  by 
the  Genoese  patricians  during  centuries  of  commer- 
cial success.  The  city  is  the  chief  port  of  Italy  and 
the  queen  of  the  Riviera,  controlling  the  commerce  of 
the  greater  part  of  the  kingdom,  and  has  over  250,- 
000  population.  We  are  told  that  while  other  Ital- 
ian cities  devoted  themselves  to  art  and  intrigue,  the 
whole  energy  of  the  Genoese  was  concentrated  on 
commerce  and  the  pursuit  of  gain.  Several  times 
both  the  city  and  the  port  have  been  enlarged,  and 
it  is  now  regarded  as  an  impregnable  fortress,  a  line 
of  ramparts  and  defensive  works  extending  for  ten 
miles,  from  the  lighthouse  point  on  the  west  around 
to  the  ravine  of  the  Bisagno,  all  the  important  parts 
defended  by  batteries,  and  there  being  about  a 
dozen  detached  forts.  The  harbor  has  been  repeat- 
edly enlarged  by  new  breakwaters,  and  there  are  now 
going  on  works  at  a  cost  of  $15,000,000  to  give  more 
dock  space,  which  were  formally  begun  by  King 
Victor  Emmanuel  in  October,  1905,  in  the  presence 
of  a  half  million  people  and  forty-three  warships 


THE  CHIEF  SEAPORT  OF  ITALY  405 

from  all  nations.  The  great  lighthouse  which  guides 
into  the  port,  stands  on  a  rocky  headland,  its  lantern 
elevated  384  feet  and  showing  twenty  miles  at  sea. 

When  Genoa  began,  or  by  whom  it  was  first  settled, 
no  one  now  knows.  The  name  seems  to  have  been  de- 
rived from  the  curving  shore  resembling  the  bended- 
knee  —  genu.  It  was  Roman,  and  the  chief  town  of 
the  Ligurian  shore,  and  for  centuries  afterward  it 
maintained  itself  against  various  barbarians  and  the 
Saracens,  finally  coming  into  a  great  rivalry  with 
Pisa,  which  ended  in  the  Genoese  victory  of  1286, 
from  which  Pisa  never  recovered,  but  Venice  defeated 
Genoa  in  1380.  The  city  acquired  control  of  much 
of  the  Mediterranean  commerce,  and  particularly 
with  the  Levant,  from  which  great  wealth  was  ac- 
cumulated. Disputes  about  this  treasure  and  trade, 
made  much  factional  strife  between  the  rival  pa- 
tricians, who  built  their  sumptuous  marble  palaces 
and  quarrelled  almost  all  the  time,  until  Doria  se- 
cured the  organization  of  the  Republic,  which  repre- 
sented Genoa's  most  successful  period  and  subsisted 
until  the  French  Revolution.  At  times,  however,  the 
city  was  captured  and  held  by  both  the  French  and 
the  Austrians,  but  its  independence  finally  fell,  after 
the  battle  of  Marengo  in  1800,  when  the  French  took 
it.  In  1815  it  became  part  of  Sardinia,  and  after- 
ward joined  the  kingdom  of  Italy.  The  city,  besides 
Columbus,  has  two  heroes  —  the  boy  Balilla,  who  in 
1748,  when  aged  fifteen  years,  threw  a  stone  at  an 


406  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

Austrian  soldier,  which  began  a  popular  uprising 
that  ended  in  driving  the  Austrians  out,  and  Joseph 
Mazzini,  who  had  so  much  to  do  with  the  Italian 
revolution  in  1848,  and  died  at  Pisa  in  1872,  after  a 
life  spent  in  efforts  to  revive  Italian  independence 
and  the  Genoese  republic. 

The  older  Genoa  is  a  picturesque  medley  of  nar- 
row streets  and  alleys,  with  stairways  climbing  the 
steeper  slopes,  and  bridges  spanning  the  valleys. 
Large  portions  are  inaccessible  to  ordinary  carriages, 
and  some  of  the  more  important  streets  have  scant 
room  for  traffic,  porters  and  chairs  taking  the  place 
of  cabs,  and  goods  being  carried  on  the  backs  of 
mules.  Some  wider  streets  have  been  opened 
through  the  older  town,  while  the  newer  sections  of 
course  have  modern  improvements,  with  fine  avenues 
and  attractive  public  promenades  and  gardens.  From 
near  the  harbor,  the  busy  street  of  San  Lorenzo  goes 
through  the  city  southeast  to  the  famous  Cathedral 
of  San  Lorenzo,  founded  in  the  tenth  century,  and 
repeatedly  restored  and  enlarged.  The  lower  fagade 
is  built  of  alternate  courses  of  black  and  white  mar- 
ble, and  while  intended  to  have  two  towers,  only  one 
has  been  completed.  The  legend  says  that  the  foun- 
dation of  the  first  church  on  this  site  was  contem- 
porary with  St.  Lawrence  himself.  The  interior 
contains  sixteen  Corinthian  columns,  that  were  built 
in  the  original  structure  in  the  twelfth  century.  In 
one  of  the  finest  of  the  chapels,  erected  in  the  fif- 


THE  CHIEF  SEAPORT  OF  ITALY  407 

teenth  century,  and  now  illumined  by  electric  lights, 
are  the  relics  of  John  the  Baptist,  and  it  is  said  that 
on  only  one  day  in  the  year  are  women  permitted  to 
enter  this  chapel,  because  it  was  a  woman,  Salome, 
the  daughter  of  Herodias,  who  procured  his  death. 
These  relics,  which  were  brought  here  from  Palestine 
during  the  Crusades,  were  contained  in  a  beautifully 
carved  sarcophagus  of  alabaster,  about  four  feet  long. 
In  explanation  of  this,  it  is  said  that  he  was  of  small 
stature,  and  that  the  head  was  not  recovered.  This 
sarcophagus  has  been  in  the  church  from  its  begin- 
ning, nearly  a  thousand  years  ago,  and  stands  upon 
a  pedestal  at  the  side  of  the  chapel,  the  carvings  upon 
it  representing  the  baptism  of  Jesus  and  incidents  in 
the  Baptist's  career.  The  relics,  however,  are  now 
enclosed  in  a  case  of  lead,  and  deposited  in  a  cavity 
chiseled  in  a  large  marble  block  over  the  altar.  This 
case  is  brought  out  once  a  year,  on  the  Saint's  day, 
and  carried  in  solemn  procession  around  the  church. 
There  are  relics  of  John  the  Baptist  elsewhere,  a  fore- 
arm at  Madrid,  parts  of  a  hand  at  St.  Petersburg, 
and  several  fingers  in  Rome. 

The  great  treasure  of  San  Lorenzo  is  in  the  sae- 
risty,  the  Sacra  Catino,  or  the  Holy  Grail.  This  was 
the  wonder  working  cup,  the  legend  being  that  it  was 
brought  by  Joseph  of  Arimathea  to  Britain,  a  shallow 
bowl  from  which  Jesus  and  his  disciples  partook  of 
the  Paschal  Lamb  at  the  Last  Supper.  Joseph  after 
the  crucifixion,  having  obtained  leave  from  Pilate  to 


408  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

take  down  the  body  from  the  cross,  went  first  to  the 
upper  room  where  the  supper  was  served  and  there 
found  this  vessel ;  and  then  as  he  took  down  the  body 
he  received  into  it  many  drops  of  blood  still  issuing 
from  the  wounds  in  the  hands,  feet  and  side.  The 
treasure  was  lost,  and  was  long  sought  and  fought  for 
by  King  Arthur  and  his  Knights  of  the  Round  Table. 
On  account  of  the  sins  of  men  it  was  said  to  have  van- 
ished from  Britain,  and  "  to  achieve  the  Holy  Grail," 
that  is  to  find  or  see  it,  became  the  height  of  chival- 
rous ambition,  but  the  legend  told  that  among  all 
Arthur's  knights,  only  one,  Sir  Galahad,  the  son  of- 
Lancelot,  was  sufficiently  pure  in  heart  to  be  favored 
with  the  sublime  vision.  The  cup  was  finally  dis- 
covered at  Csesarea  in  Palestine,  and  captured  by  the 
Genoese,  who  brought  it  here  in  1101,  and  it  was 
supposed  to  be  made  out  of  a  large  emerald  about 
four  inches  high,  and  held  the  contents  of  a  claret 
glass.  Napoleon  took  it  to  Paris,  where  it  was  ac- 
cidentally broken,  and  then  it  was  found  to  be  only 
of  glass.  It  is  octagonal  in  shape,  was  bound  to- 
gether skilfully  and  returned  to  Genoa  in  1822 ;  and 
is  one  of  the  most  sacred  relics  of  the  Catholic 
Church.  Paganini,  the  violinist,  was  a  native  of 
Genoa,  and  sang  in  the  choir  of  San  Lorenzo,  his 
name  being  carved  on  a  chapel  seat. 

There  are  a  hundred  churches  in  Genoa,  and  the 
oldest  was  St.  Ambrose  and  St.  Peter,  near  the  cathe- 
dral, said  to  have  been  founded  in  the  sixth  century, 


THE  CHIEF  SEAPORT  OF  ITALY  409 

and  now  replaced  by  the  Jesuit  Church  of  St.  Am- 
brozio,  built  in  the  sixteenth  century.  San  Siro, 
the  original  cathedral,  was  built  by  the  Benedictines 
in  the  eleventh  century,  and  rebuilt  in  the  sixteenth. 
The  Annunziata  is  one  of  the  largest  and  wealthiest 
Genoese  churches,  a  huge  cuneiform  structure  with  a 
fine  dome.  Santa  Maria  della  Vigne  dates  from 
the  ninth  century,  and  has  a  thirteenth  century 
campanile,  most  of  the  present  structure  having  been 
erected  in  the  sixteenth  century.  Santo  Stefano, 
dating  from  the  tenth  century,  also  has  its  ancient 
campanile,  but  has  been  several  times  rebuilt,  mostly 
in  the  fourteenth  century.  It  contains,  above  the 
high  altar,  Romono's  famous  painting  of  the  Stoning 
of  Stephen,  carried  off  to  Paris  by  Napoleon  in  1811, 
but  restored  to  the  Church  in  1815.  San  Matteo, 
a  small  Gothic  structure,  was  the  church  of  the 
Doria  family  of  which  it  contains  many  memorials, 
the  fagade  bearing  inscriptions  in  their  honor.  Mon- 
torsoli,  the  sculptor  of  Florence,  who  was  brought  to 
Genoa  by  Andrea  Doria,  executed  the  sculptures  with 
which  it  is  adorned,  and  also  Doria's  tomb,  which  is 
in  the  crypt  below  the  high  altar,  his  sword  presented 
by  the  Pope  being  hung  above.  Doria's  statue,  in 
front  of  the  church,  was  greatly  mutilated  in  the 
Revolution  of  1797. 

On  the  Piazza  Acquaverde,  in  the  western  part  of 
the  city,  and  embosomed  in  palm  trees,  is  the  marble 
statue  of  Columbus,  almost  the  first  object  greeting 


410  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

the  visitor  upon  leaving  the  railway  station.  Amer- 
ica kneels  at  his  feet,  and  the  pedestal  is  adorned 
•with  ships'  prows,  the  surrounding  allegorical  fig- 
ures representing  Religion,  Science,  Strength  and 
Wisdom,  having  between  them  reliefs  of  the  discov- 
erer's history.  To  the  westward  is  the  Palace  of 
Doria,  presented  to  him  by  the  city.  It  is  a  long 
and  spacious  structure,  and  in  the  court  is  a  large 
fountain  with  a  statue  of  Doria  as  Neptune.  The 
Ducal  Palace,  which  was  the  residence  of  the  Genoese 
doges,  is  on  the  Piazzo  Nuevo  to  which  the  street  of 
San  Lorenzo  leads.  It  was  completely  rebuilt  after 
a  fire  in  the  eighteenth  century,  and  now  contains 
the  government  offices  and  law  courts.  The  marble 
palaces  of  the  Genoese  patricians  are  famous  for  their 
sumptuous  architecture  and  artistic  collections.  The 
Palazzo  Rosso  (the  Red)  was  the  home  of  the  Duke 
of  Galliera,  the  chief  modern  ship  owner  of  Genoa, 
and  was  presented  to  the  city  in  1874.  It  contains  a 
fine  art  collection.  Opposite,  and  named  by  way 
of  contrast,  is  the  Palazzo  Bianco  (the  White)  of 
the  sixteenth  century,  bequeathed  to  the  city  in  1889, 
by  the  Duchess  of  Galliera  and  now  an  attractive 
museum.  The  Municipal  Palace  was  also  built  in 
the  sixteenth  century,  for  the  Dukes  of  Turin,  and 
is  on  an  inclined  site  to  which  its  handsome  staircase 
and  court  have  beer  skilfully  adapted.  In  the  court 
is  a  statue  of  Mazzini,  and  the  vestibule  is  adorned 
with  frescoes  illustrating  the  Doge  Grimaldi.  Its 


THE  CHIEF  SEAPORT  OF  ITALY  411 

chief  relic  is  a  bronze  tablet  of  the  second  century, 
recording  a  judgment  in  a  dispute  between  Genoa 
and  a  neighboring  castle;  this  tablet  was  not  discov- 
ered until  the  sixteenth  century.  There  are  also  the 
papers  of  Columbus,  his  portrait  in  mosaic,  and  a 
famous  violin  of  Paganini  —  a  Guarneri.  The 
Royal  Palace,  built  in  the  seventeenth  century  for 
the  Durazzo  family,  was  acquired  by  Victor  Em- 
manuel in  1817  and  greatly  improved  afterward.  It 
stands  in  a  commanding  position,  and  from  the  bal- 
conies and  terrace  gives  a  good  view  over  the  city  and 
harbor.  There  are  scores  of  marble  palaces  dotted 
all  about  the  city  which  add  splendor  to  the  scene. 
On  the  hills  which  rise  at  the  back  of  Genoa,  there 
has  been  laid  out  a  series  of  fine  streets,  curving  in 
and  out  with  the  ravines  and  cliffs,  known  as  the  Via 
di  Circonvallazione,  which  provides  one  of  the  most 
superb  drives  in  this  charming  region. 

While  the  city  has  many  memorials  of  Columbus, 
yet  it  is  not  positively  known  that  he  was  born  here. 
The  honor  is  claimed  for  a  small  house  in  Via  Dritto 
del  Ponticello,  one  of  the  narrow  streets  of  the  older 
town,  this  house  having  been  occupied  by  his  parents 
when  he  was  a  child.  A  Latin  tablet  over  the  door 
says :  "  No  house  better  deserves  an  inscription. 
This  is  the  paternal  home  of  Christopher  Columbus 
wherein  he  passed  his  infancy  and  youth."  In  1473, 
Columbus  signed  a  deed  relinquishing  his  claim  upon 
this  house  in  favor  of  his  brothers,  and  in  his  will  he 


412  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

wrote,  "  I  was  born  in  Genoa."  When  he  sailed  on 
his  last  voyage  in  1502,  he  deposited  all  his  papers 
with  the  famous  Genoese  Bank  of  St.  George,  which 
was  then  regarded  much  as  the  Bank  of  England  is 
to-day,  in  the  estimate  of  the  world  of  business  and 
commerce.  This  bank  was  founded  in  1407,  but  in 
1740  the  Austrians,  and  again  in  1800  the  French, 
seized  its  treasure,  and  it  ceased  to  exist.  This  was 
the  first  bank  that  issued  circulating  notes.  The 
bank  building  still  stands  in  the  older  town,  having 
been  used  for  the  Custom  House,  and  its  hall  is  now 
occupied  by  a  sumptuous  collection  of  statues  of  emi- 
nent Genoese.  When  the  Bank  went  out,  the  Colum- 
bus papers  were  sent  to  the  Municipal  Palace,  where 
Napoleon  found  them,  and  they  were  taken  to  Paris. 
They  were  returned  in  1827. 

The  great  Genoese  cemetery  is  the  Campo  Santo, 
occupying  a  spacious  site  on  the  northern  slope  of  the 
Bisagno  ravine  back  of  the  city,  and  is  regarded  as 
one  of  the  finest  in  existence.  This  "  Sacred  Camp  " 
contains  a  wonderful  collection  of  costly  monuments, 
the  ambition  of  the  people  being  to  be  buried  here. 
It  is  surrounded  by  brick  walls  twenty  to  thirty  feet 
high,  and  arranged  inside  for  oven-like  vaults,  con- 
taining rows  of  cells,  which  admit  coffins,  and  are 
sealed  with  marble  slabs  when  filled.  These  cells  can 
be  bought  or  rented,  but  if  the  rent  is  not  promptly 
paid,  the  bodies  are  cast  out  and  buried  in  the  pot- 
ters' field.  The  custom  is  to  purchase  a  group  of 


THE  CHIEF  SEAPORT  OF  ITALY      413 

these  vaults,  and  place  in  front  a  common  monu- 
ment, and  the  rivalry  in  decoration  has  brought  into 
the  Campo  Santo  a  wonderful  display  of  statuary. 
Mazzini's  tomb  is  in  this  cemetery,  but  the  one  most 
noticed  contains  the  life-size  figure  of  an  old  woman, 
who  for  over  forty  years  sold  fruit  and  cakes  in  the 
city.  She  had  no  family,  and  long  before  her  death, 
determined  she  would  be  buried  in  the  Campo  Santo, 
and  have  a  monument  as  good  as  the  best  of  them. 
She  saved  her  money  and  employed  the  most  noted 
Genoese  sculptor,  who  made  a  faithful  reproduction 
of  the  lady  in  the  garb  she  wore  when  selling  her 
wares,  selecting  before  her  death  and  buying  one  of 
the  best  locations  for  her  tomb.  In  the  Protestant 
Cemetery,  up  on  the  hills,  is  buried  James  Smithson, 
who  died  in  Genoa  in  1829,  the  Englishman  who  be- 
queathed his  fortune  to  the  United  States  to  found 
the  Smithsonian  Institution  at  Washington. 

From  the  high  hills  which  so  grandly  environ 
Genoa,  the  visitor  looks  down  at  the  town  and  far 
away  over  the  wonderful  expanse  of  the  Mediter- 
ranean. It  seems  subdued  and  quiet  under  the  bril- 
liant sun,  or  broken  into  gentle  ripples  by  the 
zephyrs,  and  what  ^Eschylus  called  its  "  multi- 
tudinous smile."  Its  glorious  outlook  and  wonderful 
history  recall  Byron's  apostrophe  to  the  great  sea  in 
Childe  Harold: 

Thy  shores  are  empires,  changed  in  all  save  thee  — 
Assyria,  Greece,  Rome,  Carthage,  what  are  they? 


414  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

Thy  waters  washed  them  power  while  they  were  free, 
And  many  a  tyrant  since;  their  shores  obey 
The  stranger,  slave  or  savage;  their  decay 

Has  dried  up  realms  to  deserts.     Not  so  thou, 
Unchangeable,  save  to  thy  wild  wave's  play ; 

Time  writes  no  wrinkle  on  thy  azure  brow; 

Such  as  creation's  dawn  beheld,  thou  rollest  now. 


ISLANDS  OF  THE  SEA 


VI 
ISLANDS  OF  THE  SEA 

Balearic  Archipelago — Iviza — Formentera — Majorca — Palma — 
Miramar — Seller — Minorca — the  Talayets — Port  Mahon — 
Cabrera  —  Corsica  —  Monte  Rotondo — Ajaccio — Napoleon — 
Corte — Paoli — Bastia — Bonifacio  —  Caprera  —  Garibaldi  — 
Sardinia — the  Brucu  Spina — Terranova — the  Nuraghi — Sas- 
sari — Porto  Torres — Macomer — the  Campidano — Oristano — 
Iglesias — San  Pietro — San  Antioco — Cagliari — Nora — Malta 
— Calypso — the  Knights  of  Malta — Valetta — Citto  Vechia — 
St.  Paul's  Bay — Comino — Gozzo — Elba — Porto  Ferrajo — 
Napoleon — Porto  Longone — Capreja — Gorgona — Pianosa — 
Monte  Cristo — Giglio — Ventatene — Procida — Ischia — the  Ep- 
omeo — Casamicciola — Lacco — Forio — Capri — the  Blue  Grotto. 

THE  BALEARIC   ARCHIPELAGO. 

These  leafy  isles  upon  the  ocean  thrown, 
Like  studs  of  emerald  o'er  a  silver  zone. 

Within  the  spacious  boundaries  of  the  Mediter- 
ranean are  various  islands  long  known  to  fame. 
From  the  protruding  buttress  cliffs  on  the  eastern 
coast  of  Spain,  Capes  San  Antonio  and  San  Martin, 
the  rocky  strata  of  the  Andalusian  mountain  system, 
extend  far  northeastward  in  submarine  ridges. 
These  reappear  above  the  surface  in  the  islands  of 
the  Balearic  archipelago,  where  the  highest  summit 
in  Minorca  rises  to  more  than  five  thousand  feet 
VOL.  1—27  417 


418  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

elevation.  There  are  two  groups  of  Las  Islas 
Baleares,  the  name  being  derived  from  a  Greek  word, 
meaning  "  to  throw,"  and  thus  anciently  designating 
them  as  "  the  islands  of  the  throwers,"  referring  to 
the  skill  of  their  warriors  as  slingers.  Early  settle- 
ments were  made  by  the  Phrenicians  and  Cartha- 
ginians, and  during  the  varying  fortunes  of  the 
Punic  Wars,  the  people  served  as  slingers,  in  the 
armies  both  of  Carthage  and  of  Rome.  The  island 
group  nearest  the  Spanish  coast  was  the  Pityusse, 
the  "  isles  of  pines,"  named  from  the  dense  forest 
growth  upon  their  shores.  The  chief  of  these  was 
the  Carthaginian  Ebusus,  about  sixty  miles  from 
Cape  San  Martin,  now  known  as  Iviza,  a  mountain- 
ous oval,  about  twenty-five  miles  long  and  thirteen 
miles  wide  in  the  broadest  part,  the  ridge  stretching 
through  it  northeastwardly  and  culminating  in  the 
summit  of  the  Atalayasa,  rising  1,560  feet.  Upon 
the  southeastern  shore  is  the  pleasant  little  port  of 
Iviza,  its  most  prominent  structures,  the  old  castle 
and  cathedral,  picturesquely  fronting  a  background 
of  steep  green  hills.  To  the  southward,  a  short  dis- 
tance, is  the  comparatively  flat  and  fertile  island  of 
Formentera,  its  present  name  coming  from  the 
prolific  production  of  wheat.  This  was  the  Ophiusa 
of  the  Greeks,  and  the  Roman  Celubrario.  It  is 
shaped  not  unlike  a  rather  lean  mutton  chop,  and  its 
coasts  enclose  nearly  forty  square  miles.  Farther 
northeast  is  the  second  and  largest  Balearic  group, 


THE  BALEARIC  AKCHIPELAGO       419 

its  chief  island,  about  fifty  miles  from  Iviza,  being 
Majorca,  or  Mallorca,  a  trapezoid,  with  its  angles 
directed  toward  the  cardinal  points  of  the  compass, 
and  its  longest  diagonal  being  sixty  miles.  Twenty- 
seven  miles  farther  northeast  is  Minorca,  or  Menorca, 
covering  about  three  hundred  square  miles  of  surface. 
As  their  names  imply,  these  are  the  major  and  minor 
islands  of  the  greater  group. 

These  were  ancient  regions.  When  the  Cartha- 
ginians came,  they  founded  Port  Mahon,  the  chief 
town  of  Minorca,  its  founder,  whose  name  is  thus 
reproduced,  being  Mago,  the  brother  of  Hannibal. 
The  subsequent  Roman  conquest  was  by  Csecilius 
Metellus,  who  was  made  the  Consul,  and  surnamed 
Balearicus,  123  B.  C.  He  founded  on  Majorca,  its 
chief  city  on  the  western  coast,  Palma,  the  "  palm 
of  victory,"  and  on  the  northern  shore,  Pollentia, 
"  the  powerful,"  now  the  small  but  pretty  town  on 
its  beautiful  bay  of  Pollensa.  The  Vandals  cap- 
tured the  islands,  then  the  Visigoths,  and  finally 
the  Moors,  Charlemagne,  however,  being  in  posses- 
sion for  a  few  years.  Jaime  I  of  Aragon,  the  "  Con- 
queror," expelled  the  Moors  in  1230,  and  after  his 
death  for  about  seventy  years,  the  archipelago 
formed  the  Kingdom  of  Majorca,  but  was  united  with 
Aragon  in  the  fourteenth  century.  These  islands 
have  a  delightful  climate,  and  are  quite  fertile,  but 
agriculture  is  primitive,  and  their  breeding  of  swine 
and  mules  is  a  considerable  industry.  They  export 


420  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

fruit,  wines,  marble  and  salt.  The  people,  number- 
ing nearly  400,000,  are  a  Catalan  race,  and  speak  a 
dialect  composed  of  that  language  and  other  words 
borrowed  from  the  varied  tongues  of  their  many 
masters  at  different  periods. 

The  northwestern  coast  of  Majorca  is  an  array  of 
precipitous  cliffs,  formed  by  the  long  mountain  ridge 
that  stretches  from  the  western  to  the  northeastern 
extremity  of  the  island,  with  many  noble  precipices 
and  projecting  capes,  rising  in  numerous  summits  of 
which  the  highest  is  the  Puig  de  Torrella,  4,740  feet, 
about  the  centre  of  the  range.  To  the  east  and  south 
of  this  great  backbone,  the  surface  is  comparatively 
level,  though  broken  by  isolated  peaks,  and  the  coasts 
on  that  side  are  mostly  low,  and  slope  away  from 
the  interior  table  lands.  The  mountains  are  of  lime- 
stone, and  their  cliffs,  ravines  and  valleys  present 
beautiful  scenery.  The  steamer  coming  from 
Barcelona  approaches  the  precipitous  northwestern 
coast,  surmounted  by  its  many  ancient  watch-towers, 
and  rounds  the  cliffs  at  the  western  extremity  of  the 
island,  finally  entering  the  superb  and  deeply  in- 
dented  bay  of  Palma,  on  the  southwestern  coast. 
This  bay  is  thrust  for  twelve  miles  into  the  land, 
and  has  at  its  head,  picturesquely  spread  over  the 
top  and  on  the  sides  and  base  of  a  hill, 
the  capital  city  of  the  province,  ancient  Palma, 
where  there  are  some  seventy  thousand  people. 
It  is  a  commercial  and  manufacturing  community, 


THE  BALEARIC  ARCHIPELAGO  421 

and  as  the  steamer  approaches,  the  noble  cathedral 
on  the  eastern  side  of  the  harbor  dominates  the  view, 
while  adjoining  is  the  venerable  castle  of  the 
Almudaina,  which  represents,  though  in  some 
decadence,  the  old  time  royal  glory  of  the  king- 
dom of  Majorca.  Jetties  protect  the  little  harbor, 
and  on  the  quay  is  the  Gothic  sandstone  Lonja,  with 
Moorish  castellated  top  and  corner  turrets,  which 
was  the  Exchange  in  former  days.  The  cathedral 
was  begun  by  King  Jaime  I  of  Aragon  in  1230,  and 
was  nearly  two  centuries  building,  its  golden-brown 
sandstone  flying  arches,  towers  and  elaborate  fagade 
being  impressive.  It  is  nearly  three  hundred  and 
sixty  feet  long  and  one  hundred  and  eighty-five 
feet  wide,  the  nave  being  one  hundred  and  forty  feet 
high  and  about  sixty-three  feet  wide  at  the  vaulting, 
one  of  the  largest  spans  existing.  Slender  columns, 
seven  on  either  side,  separate  the  nave  from  the  wide 
aisles,  on  the  outside  of  which  are  rows  of  chapels. 
In  the  chief  chapel  behind  the  high  altar,  enclosed 
in  a  black  marble  sarcophagus,  are  the  remains  of 
King  Jaime  II,  who  died  in  1311.  Bishop  Gil 
Munoz,  who  died  in  1424,  and  was  elected  the  anti- 
pope  Clement  VIII,  is  also  interred  in  the  cathedral. 
There  is  an  elaborate'  candelabra  in  the  treasury, 
which  cost  $30,000.  From  the  plaza  in  front  of  the 
cathedral,  there  is  a  magnificent  view  over  the  har- 
bor and  the  distant  sea.  Among  the  interesting 
private  houses  in  Palma  is  the  Casa  Bonaparte,  that 


422  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

famous  family  tracing  descent  from  Hugh  Bonaparte, 
a  native  here  in  the  fifteenth  century,  who  is  said  to 
have  been  a  governor  of  Corsica. 

The  fertile  Huerta  of  Palma,  watered  by  various 
small  streams  coming  down  out  of  the  mountains, 
stretches  northward  from  the  city;  and  among  the 
enclosing  hills,  with  a  grand  view  over  the  sea  to 
the  northwest,  is  the  splendid  domain  of  Miramar, 
improved  in  the  later  nineteenth  century  by  the 
Austrian  Archduke  Louis  Salvator  for  a  winter  re- 
treat. Adjacent  is  the  old  and  ruined  Carthusian 
convent  of  Valldemosa,  where  George  Sand  came  in 
1838  and  occupied  a  cell.  Some  distance  northeast- 
ward is  the  beautiful  vale  of  Soller,  opening  out  upon 
the  sea  and  having  at  its  entrance,  embosomed 
in  orange  groves,  the  little  town  of  Soller,  which  has 
a  good  deal  of  trade  with  the  French  and  Spanish 
Mediterranean  ports  in  wines,  fruits  and  olive  oil. 
The  great  Puig  de  Torella,  the  highest  peak  of 
Majorca,  rises  to  the  eastward  of  the  town  and  gives 
it  a  noble  background. 

Minorca  island,  to  the  northeastward,  has  a  gen- 
erally flat  surface  in  the  southern  part,  but  rises 
irregularly  toward  the  centre,  where  is  the  highest 
summit  of  the  archipelago,  Mount  El  Toro,  the  name 
evidently  derived  from  the  Arabic  Tor  meaning  a 
height,  though  the  people  have  a  legend  that  it  comes 
from  the  Spanish  toro,  a  bull.  This  peak  reaches 
an  altitude  of  5,250  feet.  To  the  outer  world, 


THE  BALEARIC  ARCHIPELAGO       423 

Minorca  is  chiefly  known  from  its  admirable  harbor 
of  Port  Mahon,  and  its  mysterious  prehistoric  monu- 
ments called  the  talayets.  The  various  small  hold- 
ings of  land  are  separated  by  stone  walls,  and  these 
with  the  many  windmills,  are  a  characteristic  feature 
of  the  surface.  There  rise  everywhere  also  the  curi- 
ous talayets,  gloomy,  tower-like  buildings,  having  the 
entrance  far  above  the  ground,  which  are  sometimes 
fifty  feet  high,  and  are  believed  to  have  been  in  days 
long  agone,  either  sepulchral  monuments  or  fortified 
dwellings.  The  seamen  approaching  the  shores 
gave  them  this  name,  meaning  "  great  atalayas  "  or 
watch-towers.  Port  Mahon,  on  the  eastern  shore,  is 
the  capital,  having  about  twenty  thousand  people,  its 
harbor  stretching  three  miles  into  the  land  and  form- 
ing several  bays,  being  a  spacious,  safe  and  much 
prized  anchorage  that  is  easily  defended.  This  is 
regarded  as  probably  the  best  harbor  of  the  Mediter- 
ranean, and  the  grim  old  Genoese  admiral,  Andrea 
Doria,  who  often  took  advantage  of  it,  had  a  proverb 
that  "  June,  July,  August  and  Port  Mahon,  are  the 
best  ports  of  the  Mediterranean."  In  the  long 
series  of  wars  between  England  and  France,  this 
harbor  was  several  times  in  English  possession. 
General  Stanhope  in  1708  captured  it,  having  scared 
the  inhabitants  by  shooting  arrows  into  the  town, 
bearing  messages  threatening  hard  labor  in  the  mines 
if  they  resisted.  England  held  it  nearly  a  half 
century,  and  through  the  neglect  of  duty  of  Admiral 


424  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

Byng,  for  which  he  was  court-martialled  and  exe- 
cuted, the  French  and  Spanish  retook  it  in  1756. 
England  recovered  it  a  few  years  later,  but  surren- 
dered it  to  Spain  in  1782.  It  was  again  captured 
in  1798,  but  in  1802  went  back  to  Spain,  which  still 
possesses  the  island.  The  town  has  many  English 
characteristics,  and  their  occupation  also  added  some 
English  words  that  continue  in  the  Minorcan  lan- 
guage. The  most  pathetic  recent  tragedy  of  Min- 
orca, was  the  wreck  on  the  rocks  off  the  northwestern 
coast,  near  Ciudadela,  of  the  French  steamer  General 
Chanzy,  bound  from  Marseilles  to  Algiers.  She  was 
driven  ashore  in  a  wild  storm  on  the  night  of  Febru- 
ary 9,  1910,  the  boilers  exploding.  One  hundred 
and  fifty-six  of  the  ship's  company  perished.  There 
was  a  single  survivor,  who  clung  to  a  piece  of  the 
wreck,  was  tossed  insensible  on  the  rocks,  revived  next 
morning  and  wandered  into  the  village,  to  tell  the  hor- 
rors of  the  night.  There  are  some  smaller  islands  in 
the  Balearic  archipelago,  and  among  them,  south  of 
Majorca,  is  Cabrera,  or  Goat  Island,  which  has  many 
caverns  in  its  limestone  rocks,  and  is  used  as  a  place 
of  banishment  for  criminals. 

COKSICA. 

About  two  hundred  and  fifty  miles  northeast  of 
Minorca,  is  the  Mediterranean  island,  which  was  the 
Greek  Cyrnos,  and  became  the  modern  French  Corse, 
famous  as  the  birthplace  of  Napoleon.  This  noted 


CORSICA  425 

island,  which  we  call  Corsica,  lies  at  the  entrance  of 
the  Ligurian  sea,  where  the  Mediterranean  extends 
far  up  northward  into  the  land  as  the  Gulf  of  Genoa, 
and  makes  the  attractive  encircling  shores  around 
it,  of  the  French  and  Italian  Eiviera.  It  is  about 
one  hundred  miles  south  of  Genoa  and  of  the  Mari- 
time Alps  of  which  it  is  probably  an  extension ;  and 
fifty  miles  west  of  the  Italian  shore  of  Tuscany. 
Its  northern  extremity  is  the  long  peninsula  formed 
by  the  Serra  Mountains,  extending  for  twenty-five 
miles,  in  a  narrow  and  high  ridge,  elevated  over 
4,000  feet,  and  terminating  in  the  famous  Promon- 
torium  Sacrum  of  the  ancients,  now  called  the  Cape 
Corso.  From  here  to  Bonifacio  at  the  southern 
termination,  where  the  strait  about  eight  miles  wide 
separates  Corsica  from  Sardinia,  the  island  is  about 
one  hundred  and  sixteen  miles  long,  its  greatest 
breadth  being  about  fifty-two  miles.  It  has  nearly 
thirty-four  hundred  square  miles  of  surface,  largely 
mountainous,  and  nearly  three  hundred  thousand 
population.  The  eastern  coast  facing  Italy  is  gen- 
erally low,  and  of  regular  outline,  made  by  abundant 
alluvial  deposits  brought  by  many  small  and  rapid 
streams  down  out  of  the  mountains.  The  western 
coast  is  high  and  rugged,  rising  precipitously  from 
the  sea,  in  numerous  abrupt  promontories,  having 
intervening  bays  and  harbors,  disclosing  magnificent 
scenery.  Behind  this  bold  shore,  the  interior  is 
traversed  by  a  broad  chain  of  granite  and  limestone 


426  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

mountains,  occupying  the  greater  part  of  the  island, 
and  rising  in  several  summits  exceeding  7,000  feet. 
The  approach  from  the  westward,  over  the  sea,  gives 
a  grand  view  of  these  peaks,  which  are  generally 
clothed  in  snow,  the  range  culminating  about  the 
centre  in  Monte  Rotondo  rising  8,775  feet,  with  its 
attendant  peaks  Monte  Cinto  to  the  northward  8,- 
890  feet  and  Monte  d'Oro,  southward,  7,850  feet. 
These  mountains  and  their  foothills  are  clothed  with 
forests,  and  the  timber  here  grown,  which  was  in 
high  esteem  among  the  Romans,  is  yet  exported  to 
France  and  Italy  for  vessel  masts.  The  island  is 
famous  for  its  scenic  attractions,  as  well  as  for  its 
woods  and  fruits,  but  the  greatest  of  its  productions 
was  Napoleon  Bonaparte. 

The  remote  origin  of  the  Corsicans  is  said  to  have 
been  Iberia,  and  the  Phoenicians,  driven  out  of  Asia, 
came  here  in  the  sixth  century  B.  C.,  but  the  Italian 
Etruscans  and  Carthaginians  soon  got  possession,  the 
latter  holding  it  until  the  Romans  conquered  in  the 
third  century  B.  C.,  though  it  took  them  nearly  a 
hundred  years  to  reduce  the  sturdy  islanders  to  sub- 
jection. Then  Corsica  was  used  as  a  place  of  ban- 
ishment, and  here  Seneca  spent  eight  years  when 
exiled  by  Claudius.  He  and  Strabo,  and  others  of 
that  time,  left  very  unfavorable  reports  of  the  people, 
Strabo  describing  them  as  untameable  and  vindic- 
tive. The  barbarians  overran  it,  and  the  Moors  ulti- 
mately got  possession,  and  in  the  fourteenth  century 


CORSICA  427 

Genoa  became  the  conqueror,  holding  it  until  the 
eighteenth  century,  when  the  heroic  Pasquale  Paoli 
appeared  as  the  deliverer  of  his  country,  and  in 
1796  it  fell  to  France,  which  has  since  held  the 
sovereign  power.  The  wild  and  romantic  character 
of  the  country  has  been  reproduced,  during  all  these 
periods,  in  its  people.  They  are  brave  and  hospit- 
able, but  vindictive  and  passionate,  and  still  have 
that  insatiable  thirst  for  revenge,  which  has  become 
a  world  proverb  in  the  Vendetta.  Brigandage 
flourished  until  recent  times,  the  romantic  and  pic- 
turesque brigands  lurking  in  the  dense  mountain 
thickets  of  arbutus  and  similar  plants,  known  as 
the  maquis,  and  living  when  in  hiding,  upon  the 
meal  formed  by  ground  chestnuts,  a  most  abundant 
product,  which  is  still  the  staple  food  of  the  moun- 
taineer. The  island  has  no  art  treasures,  and  few 
antiquities.  Most  of  the  rural  population  yet  live 
in  the  rude  cottages  constructed  by  their  remote  an- 
cestors, usually  on  steep  hillsides,  and  being  often 
but  little  more  than  four  bare  walls,  with  a  single 
opening,  serving  alike  for  door  and  window,  having 
occasionally  an  upper  loft  to  which  access  is  got  by 
a  ladder.  There  are  no  fireplaces,  and  the  furniture 
is  as  uncouth  as  the  house.  These  people  are  very 
devout,  each  village  having  its  church,  and  in  many 
are  highly  prized  relics.  In  one  of  the  interior 
hamlets  is  a  tiny  church,  which  displays  in  its 
reliquary,  the  horn  said  to  have  been  used  by  Moses 


428  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

in  calling  together  the  children  of  Israel  in  the 
desert,  a  tuft  of  Esau's  red  hair,  the  sling  wherewith 
David  threw  the  stone  that  slew  Goliath,  two  of  the 
thirty  pieces  of  silver  that  bribed  Judas,  and  the 
bridle  of  the  ass  that  bore  the  Holy  Family  into 
Egypt. 

A  broad  and  splendid  bay,  environed  by  moun- 
tains, is  deeply  indented  in  the  western  shore  of  the 
island,  and  here  is  the  Corsican  capital  and  most 
noted  city,  Ajaccio,  the  harbor  being  upon  its 
northern  verge,  having  the  houses  to  the  westward, 
and  the  ancient  citadel  upon  a  tongue  of  rock  pro- 
truding southward  into  the  bay.  This  beautiful 
place,  with  its  superb  outlook  over  the  sea  and  the 
surrounding  and  usually  snow-covered  mountains, 
was  chosen  by  the  Genoese  for  their  port  and  strong- 
hold in  the  fifteenth  century,  while  Napoleon  made 
it  the  capital,  at  his  mother's  request,  in  1811.  He 
always  admired  its  tropical  luxuriance  of  vegeta- 
tion, and  the  fragrance  of  its  almond  and  orange 
groves.  The  chief  streets  are  bordered  by  rowrs  of 
acacias,  citrons  and  orange  trees,  and  one  highly 
pleased  German  writer,  Gregorovius,  tells  of  these 
trees  "  stretching  out  their  golden  fruit,  those  dar- 
lings of  the  Hesperides,  to  welcome  the  enchanted 
visitor  to  this  favored  isle."  The  climate  is  mild  and 
equable,  and  the  atmosphere  almost  always  clear, 
while  the  mercury,  during  the  season  from  November 
to  April,  is  rarely  below  50°  or  above  60°.  The 


CORSICA  429 

scenery  of  the  island  is  among  the  finest  in  the  world, 
and  a  charmed  visitor,  writing  in  the  Alpine  Club 
Journal,  says  he  knows  of  "  no  such  combination  of 
sea  and  mountains,  of  the  sylvan  beauty  of  the  north 
with  the  rich  colors  of  the  south;  no  region  where, 
within  so  small  a  space,  Nature  takes  so  many 
sublime  and  exquisite  aspects  as  she  does  in  Corsica. 
Orange  groves,  olives,  vines  and  chestnuts,  the  most 
picturesque  beech  forests,  the  noblest  pine  woods  in 
Europe,  granite  peaks,  snows  and  frozen  lakes  —  all 
these  are  brought  into  the  compass  of  a  day's  journey. 
Everything  is  as  novel  to  the  Alpine  climber,  as  if, 
in  place  of  being  on  a  fragment  of  the  Alps,  severed 
only  by  a  hundred  miles  from  their  nearest  snows, 
he  was  in  a  different  continent." 

The  Ajaccio  citadel  on  the  protruding  tongue  of 
rock,  which,  with  a  projecting  mole,  protects  the 
southern  verge  of  the  harbor,  is  the  chief  structure  of 
the  older  town,  and  the  newer  portions  are  northward, 
across  the  broad  Place  des  Palmiers,  a  pleasure 
ground  adorned  with  palms  and  other  fine  trees.  The 
sojourner  soon  finds  that  everything  in  Ajaccio  has  to 
do  with  Napoleon  and  his  family,  the  great  Emperor 
being  the  tutelary  genius  of  the  place.  An  elaborate 
fountain  in  the  Place  des  Palmiers  is  surmounted  by 
Xapoleon's  statue  as  first  Consul.  Fronting  the 
Place  is  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  containing  a  museum  of 
Bonaparte  relics.  The  streets  leading  from  the  Place 
are  the  Boulevard  du  Roi  Jerome  (his  brother), 


-i30  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

the  Hue  Fesch  (his  uncle),  the  Rue  Napoleon 
leading  to  the  Bonaparte  Mansion  where  he  was  born, 
and  the  Avenue  du  Premier  Consul,  extending  south- 
west to  the  Place  Bonaparte,  which  is  adorned  by  an 
equestrian  statue  of  the  Emperor  with  his  four  broth- 
ers afoot,  by  Barye,  unveiled  in  1865.  They  are 
marching  toward  the  sea,  indicating  that  they  left 
the  island  to  seek  their  marvellous  fortunes.  To  the 
southward  of  the  Place  des  Palmiers  is  the  small 
Place  Letizia  (his  mother)  and  here  is  the  great  at- 
traction of  the  town,  the  modest  four-story  house,  of 
unpretentious  appearance,  where  he  was  born,  bear- 
ing the  inscription  in  French,  "  Napoleon  was  born 
in  this  house  August  15,  1769."  It  contains  various 
relics  and  reminiscences  of  the  family.  His  father 
was  Carlo  Maria  Bonaparte,  a  native  of  Ajaccio,  a 
lawyer,  and  his  mother  Letizia  Kamolino.  They 
had  thirteen  children,  Napoleon  being  the  second  son 
and  Joseph  the  oldest.  The  French  had  conquered 
Corsica  just  before  his  birth.  The  cathedral  is  but 
a  short  distance  from  the  house,  and  the  tradition  is 
that  his  mother,  being  taken  in  labor  while  attending 
Mass,  she  hastened  home,  and  he  was  born  on  a  piece 
of  old  tapestry,  whereon  were  depicted  the  events  of 
the  Iliad.  Accompanying  his  father,  he  visited  the 
Continent  when  very  young,  and  in  his  tenth  year 
was  sent  to  the  French  military  school  at  Brienne. 
His  father  died  in  1785,  but  his  mother  long  sur- 
vived him.  During  his  days  of  greatest  power,  ha 


CORSICA  431 

paid  little  attention  to  Corsica,  his  last  visit  there 
having  been  on  his  return  from  Egypt,  in  September, 
1799.  But  when  in  exile  at  St.  Helena,  he  often 
spoke  of  his  birthplace,  and  once  said :  "  What 
memories  Corsica  has  left  me!  I  still  think  with 
pleasure  of  its  mountains  and  its  beautiful  scenery; 
I  still  remember  the  fragrance  which  it  exhales." 
His  last  companions,  his  physicians  and  confessor, 
were  Corsicans.  The  old  dining-room  is  kept  as  it 
was  in  his  youth,  with  the  ancient  table  and  chairs, 
and  primitive  china  setting,  and  also  the  modest  bed- 
room that  was  his  as  a  child,  and  where  he  last  slept 
on  his  return  from  Egypt. 

Upon  the  Rue  Fesch,  is  the  College  Fesch,  now  a 
library  and  picture  gallery.  Cardinal  Fesch  was  the 
half-brother  of  Napoleon's  mother,  and  his  bronze 
statue  adorns  the  interior  court.  In  the  chapel  are 
his  tomb,  and  also  that  of  Napoleon's  mother,  she 
dying  in  Rome  in  1836,  the  chapel  having  been  con- 
structed by  Napoleon  III  as  his  memorial.  In  the 
Ajaccio  Cathedral,  a  modern  structure,  is  the  font 
where  Napoleon  was  baptized  in  July,  1771.  A  foil 
to  the  universal  celebrity  of  Napoleon,  in  Ajaccio,  is 
the  small  palace  of  the  Pozzo  di  Borgo,  on  the  Rue 
Napoleon.  Carlo  Pozzo  di  Borgo,  born  here  in 
1768,  was  at  first  among  Napoleon's  greatest  ad- 
mirers, and  an  adherent  of  Paoli,  but  afterward  his 
bitterest  enemy,  removing  to  Russia,  where  he  be- 
came a  Councillor  of  State,  a  count,  and  an  ambassa- 


432  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

dor,  devoting  all  his  energies  to  checking  Napoleon's 
ambitious  projects.  He  died  in  Paris  in  1842.  A 
popular  visit,  in  the  suburbs  of  the  town,  is  to  climb 
Monte  Salario,  about  three  miles  inland,  and  from 
the  summit,  at  nearly  one  thousand  feet  elevation, 
enjoy  the  admirable  view  over  the  harbor,  mountains 
and  sea.  About  seven  miles  northwest  is  the  summit 
of  the  ridge,  where  the  Counts  of  Pozzo  di  Borgo 
have  a  castle,  built  from  various  remains  of  the  Paris 
Tuileries,  reproducing  its  central  pavilion,  and  here, 
from  an  elevation  of  2,600  feet,  is  a  splendid  pano- 
rama of  the  peninsula,  stretching  into  the  Mediter- 
ranean west  of  Ajaccio,  and  of  the  grand  mountain 
ranges  in  the  interior  of  the  island,  their  snowy  sum- 
mits being  seen  far  to  the  northeast.  Facing  south- 
ward toward  the  sea,  and  about  two  miles  west  of 
Ajaccio,  in  a  situation  of  wondrous  beauty,  is  the 
cemetery.  Here  on  the  picturesque  hill  slopes,  amid 
olive  and  orange  groves,  are  the  highly  decorated 
mortuary  chapels  of  the  rural  necropolis. 

Railroads  have  been  opened  in  Corsica,  and  the 
chief  one  leads  among  the  mountains,  from  Ajaccio 
northeastward  to  and  beyond  the  old  capital  of  Corte. 
It  passes  through  the  forest  of  Vizzavona,  famous  for 
its  splendid  beeches,  chestnuts  and  firs,  and  display- 
ing some  of  the  best  mountain  and  forest  scenery  of 
the  island.  To  the  westward  rises  the  noble  summit 
of  the  Monte  d'Oro,  and  a  little  way  beyond,  the 
massive  Monte  Eotondo.  Its  top  is  a  wilderness  of 


CORSICA  433 

blocks  of  granite,  with  a  snow-capped  crater-shaped 
summit,  from  which  is  displayed  a  grand  landscape 
view  over  the  rocky  masses  of  this  mountainous 
island,  shut  in  toward  the  south,  however,  by  Monte 
d'Oro.  Upon  these  high  surfaces  browse  the  dark- 
brown  mufflone,  the  curious  wild  horned  sheep  of 
Corsica.  Rounding  the  extensive  flanking  buttresses 
of  Monte  Rotondo,  piercing  tunnels  and  crossing 
high  above  romantic  ravines,  the  old  capital  of  Corte 
is  reached,  about  fifty-two  miles  from  Ajaccio,  its 
lofty  citadel  commanding  the  town.  As  Ajaccio 
reveres  the  memory  of  Napoleon,  so  does  this  place 
worship  at  the  shrine  of  the  patriot  Pasquale  Paoli, 
and  the  principal  square,  the  Place  Paoli,  displays 
his  bronze  statue.  He  was  born  in  1724  at  Stretta, 
a  small  village  among  the  mountains  to  the  north- 
eastward, his  father  having  been  a  leader  of  the  Cor- 
sicans  in  their  struggles  against  the  Genoese  and  the 
French.  Young  Paoli,  after  service  in  these  wars, 
went  to  Holland,  and  finally  to  England,  where  he 
lived  several  years.  After  a  long  while  he  returned, 
led  the  Corsicans  in  their  successful  revolt,  became 
the  ruler,  and  made  Corte  the  headquarters  of  his 
government,  the  Bonaparte  family  being  then  among 
his  followers.  At  the  Palace  are  still  shown  his 
study  with  cork-lined  window  shutters,  and  his  coun- 
cil chamber.  The  Bonapartes  ultimately  separated 
from  him,  and  Paoli  seeking  English  aid,  they  con- 
quered the  island  in  1794.  In  1796  the  French  got 
VOL.  1—28 


434  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

possession,  and  Paoli  retired  to  London,  where  he 
died  in  1807.  Surrounded  on  all  sides  by  moun- 
tains, including  the  highest  peaks  of  Corsica,  Corte 
is  in  a  most  striking  situation,  its  scenery  rivalling 
the  greatest  Alpine  valleys,  and  strangely  contrasting 
the  bleak  rocks  and  snow  with  a  most  luxuriant  vege- 
tation. 

To  the  northwest  rises  Monte  Cinto,  the  most  ele- 
vated Corsican  mountain,  and  passing  some  distance 
from  its  eastern  base,  the  railroad  beyond  skirts  the 
noble  forest  region  known  as  the  Castagniccia,  or  the 
"  land  of  chestnuts."  About  twenty  miles  from 
Corte  is  Ponte  Nuovo,  where  Paoli  was  finally  over- 
come by  the  French.  The  river  Golo  is  followed 
down  to  the  flat  coast  district  of  the  eastern  shore, 
which  has  much  marsh  and  many  lagoons,  and  here 
at  the  river's  mouth,  on  the  plain,  are  the  remains  of 
Mariana,  the  Roman  colony  that  Marius  founded. 
The  most  extensive  lagoon,  stretching  along  the  coast 
northward  of  Mariana,  is  the  Etang  de  Biguglia,  and 
on  its  shore  was  the  Genoese  capital,  when  they  ruled 
the  island.  Farther  on,  and  beyond  this  lagoon,  is 
the  harbor  of  Bastia,  the  chief  Corsican  seaport. 
The  Genoese  founded  it  in  the  fourteenth  century, 
building  a  strong  castle  to  defend  the  port,  and  from 
this,  known  as  the  "  bastion,"  came  its  name.  The 
old  town  and  castle  overlook  the  newer  settlement, 
encircling  the  harbor,  where  there  is  a  good  trade, 
the  city  having  about  twenty-five  thousand  popula- 


CORSICA  435 

tion.  All  around  the  Corsican  coasts,  excepting  on 
the  low-lying  but  fertile  eastern  shore,  are  romantic 
cliffs,  and  attractive  resorts  upon  the  many  rock- 
bound  harbors.  The  southern  extremity  of  the 
island  is  a  prominent  and  lofty  rock,  to  which  came  in 
the  ninth  century,  after  a  naval  victory  over  the 
Moors,  the  Tuscan  chief  Bonifacio,  to  land  his  cap- 
tives and  plunder.  The  result  was  a  settlement  and 
a  castle  on  the  rock,  which  the  Pisans  and  the 
Genoese  subsequently  fortified.  On  top  of  the  rock, 
near  the  citadel,  is  the  Torrione,  a  massive  watch- 
tower  Bonifacio  is  said  to  have  built,  and  at  its  foot 
descends  the  King  of  Aragon's  staircase  to  the  edge 
of  the  sea.  King  Alfonso  I  of  Aragon  besieged  the 
place  in  1420,  and  it  made  a  most  gallant  defence. 
During  the  siege,  the  king's  soldiers,  unknown  to  the 
besieged,  cut  this  flight  of  over  two  hundred  steps  in 
the  face  of  the  precipitous  cliffs.  There  are  wonder- 
ful caves  in  the  limestone  rock,  most  of  them  hung 
with  beautiful  stalactites,  while  a  marine  fungus, 
which  clings  to  the  limestone,  reflects  upon  the  water, 
in  a  guise  that  gives  it  the  appearance  of  being  cov- 
ered by  a  lacework  of  jewels.  These  caves,  in  places, 
almost  undermine  the  rock,  and  many  of  the  houses 
on  the  top  overhang  the  edges  in  a  startling  yet  pic- 
turesque way.  Various  ancient  churches,  and  other 
old  buildings,  surmount  the  massive  promontory,  and 
from  its  southern  verge  there  is  a  beautiful  view 
across  the  blue  waters  of  the  strait  and  its  dotted 


436  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

islands,  to  the  distant  shore  of  Sardinia  eight  miles 
away. 


SAEDINIA. 


The  geologists  tell  us  that  the  granitic  mountains 
of  Corsica,  were  originally  extended  across  the  Strait 
of  Bonifacio  into  the  land  to  the  southward,  but  that 
in  some  remote  age,  a  natural  convulsion  cut  down 
the  water  passage,  and  made  this  another  island.  As 
it  is  to-day,  many  rocky  islets  are  dotted  over  the 
strait,  and  lie  off  the  bold  Sardinian  shores  of  which 
the  northern  extremity  is  the  Punta  del  Falcone. 
Among  these  attendant  islands  around  the  pictur- 
esque coast  of  Sardinia,  is  Caprera,  off  the  north- 
eastern shore,  covering  about  ten  square  miles,  where 
the  Italian  patriot  Garibaldi  made  his  home,  during 
the  later  years  of  his  memorable  contest  for  Italian 
liberty  and  unity.  The  Grecian  Sardo,  which  the 
Italians  call  Sardegna,  and  we  know  as  Sardinia, 
is  a  mass  of  mountain  ranges,  mostly  of  granite,  and 
including  various  extinct  volcanoes,  covering  over 
nine  thousand  square  miles,  and  is  about  one  hundred 
and  seventy-two  miles  long  and  seventy  miles  wide. 
These  mountains  have  many  peaks  and  ridges,  mak- 
ing a  rough  country,  and  culminating  about  the  cen- 
tre of  the  island  in  the  summit  of  the  Bruncu  Spina, 
elevated  6,280  feet.  This  is  in  the  Gennargentu 
range,  its  southern  slopes  being  the  wildest  part  of 
Sardinia,  where  the  people  still  boast  that  their  re- 


SARDINIA  437 

mote  ancestors  never  yielded  to  Carthaginian,  Roman 
or  Moor,  and  it  still  is  unsafe  for  visitors  to  travel 
without  a  military  escort.  The  original  people  were 
Iberians,  and  the  first  foreign  settlers  were  Phreni- 
cians,  who  sought  the  harbors  on  the  southern  coast, 
as  havens  for  their  ships,  when  on  the  way  to  western 
Tarshish.  The  projecting  northern  coast  of  Tunis, 
in  Africa,  comes  comparatively  near,  a"nd  thus  con- 
tracts the  sea  passage,  while  to  the  eastward  is  Sicily, 
and  the  triangular  gulf  thus  enclosed  by  Sicily,  Sar- 
dinia and  Italy  is  the  Tyrrhenian  Sea.  The  Cartha- 
ginians early  invaded  and  subdued  part  of  the  island, 
and  next  came  the  Romans,  though  the  interior  tribes 
were  never  subdued  by  either.  Much  of  the  coast  of 
Sardinia  is  uninteresting,  and  on  the  plains  and  in 
the  river  valleys,  the  conquerors  had  extensive  grain 
fields  which  supplied  both  Carthage  and  Rome, 
though  now  the  land  is  largely  uncultivated,  and 
cattle-raising  and  mining  are  the  chief  occupations 
for  the  export  trade.  The  Romans  sent  their  crim- 
inals and  Christian  slaves  to  work  in  the  mines,  but 
themselves  shunned  Sardinia,  because  they  regarded 
the  climate  as  unhealthy,  and  the  people  as  proud, 
independent  and  unconquerable.  Their  Sardinian 
captives  were  generally  taken  to  Rome  and  sold 
cheaply  for  slaves,  as  even  then  they  were  too  spirited 
for  their  taskmasters,  whence  came  the  expression 
Sardi  venolas,  "  as  cheap  as  a  Sardinian."  The 
Vandals  and  Moors  subsequently  overran  the  island, 


438  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

but  the  native  princes  were  never  subdued,  and  they 
recognized  the  Pope  as  their  protector,  so  that  John 
VIII  in  the  early  eleventh  century,  preached  a  cru- 
sade against  the  infidels,  which  resulted  in  their  ex- 
pulsion by  the  Genoese  and  Pisans.  These,  with 
many  interposed  quarrels,  ruled  for  two  centuries, 
and  then  the  kings  of  Aragon  under  papal  patronage 
came  into  power.  The  Spaniards  were  rulers  for 
three  centuries,  and  afterward  the  island  came  to 
the  House  of  Savoy,  the  King  of  Sardinia,  in  1861, 
becoming  the  king  of  united  Italy. 

The  visitors  to  the  island  usually  sail  from  Civite 
Vecchia  in  Italy,  to  Cape  Figuri,  bounding  the  Gulf 
of  Terranova,  on  the  northeastern  coast,  from  whence 
the  main  railway  system  leads  throughout  Sardinia. 
This  is  a  rocky  district,  without  much  habitation,  but 
it  was  a  very  early  settled  region,  the  spacious  and 
attractive  gulf  having  been  the  ancient  Portus 
Olbianses,  with  remnants  of  the  Roman  town  of 
Olbia  on  its  inner  shore,  now  the  little  port  of  Ter- 
ranova-Pausania.  The  railroad  crosses  the  island 
to  Sassari,  near  the  northwestern  coast.  On  its 
way  is  passed  a  volcanic  hill,  where  is  traceable  an 
old  stream  of  lava,  and  alongside  a  ravine  is  the 
Nuraghu  Nieddu,  or  the  "  black  nuraghe,"  a  lava- 
built  tower,  consisting  of  several  chambers  one  above 
the  other.  This  is  a  relic  from  a  prehistoric  epoch, 
far  antedating  either  Carthaginian  or  Phoenician. 
Many  of  these  mysterious  structures  are  scattered 


SARDINIA  439 

over  Sardinia,  and  the  antiquarians  describe  them 
as  tombs,  temples,  forts  and  dwellings,  their  real  ob- 
ject not  being  accurately  known,  though  it  is  prob- 
able the  early  inhabitants  built  them  as  places  of 
refuge  when  attacked.  They  are  conical,  with 
truncated  summits,  thirty  to  sixty  feet  high,  and 
sometimes  as  much  as  one  hundred  feet  in  diameter 
at  the  base,  built  of  blocks  of  stone  or  lava,  put  to- 
gether without  mortar,  and  placed  usually  on 
eminences  or  mountain  slopes.  The  interior  is 
composed  of  two  or  three  conically  vaulted  chambers, 
one  above  the  other,  a  winding  stairway  being  built 
within  the  thick  walls,  to  reach  the  upper  rooms. 
Sassari,  the  capital  of  the  northern  Sardinian  prov- 
ince, has  about  forty  thousand  people,  with  St. 
Gavinus  as  its  patron  saint,  a  Roman  centurion  who 
embraced  Christianity  during  the  persecutions  of 
Diocletian.  His  equestrian  statue  adorns  the  foun- 
tain of  the  copious  spring,  on  the  eastern  side  of 
the  city,  which  supplies  it,  the  Fontana  del  Rosello, 
the  water  being  carried  through  the  streets  in  small 
barrels  slung  on  the  backs  of  donkeys,  the  same  as 
during  centuries  gone  by.  The  tomb  of  St.  Gavinus 
is  in  the  church  at  Porto  Torres,  on  the  northern 
coast,  the  seaport  of  Sassari,  which  is  a  single  long 
street  on  the  shore,  having  Roman  remains  of  the 
ancient  Tunis  Libyssonis.  From  an  antique  column 
at  the  harbor's  edge,  an  ancient  highway  of  the 
Romans  extends  all  the  way  throughout  the  island, 


440  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

to  Cagliari  on  the  southern  coast,  where  its  end 
is  marked  by  another  column.  Here  are  seen  an 
old  Roman  bridge  of  seven  unequal  arches,  crossing 
the  stream  flowing  into  the  harbor,  and  also  inter- 
esting remains  of  the  Temple  of  Fortune.  In  this 
remote  portion  of  Sardinia,  the  peasant  women,  as 
of  yore,  wear  most  picturesque  and  attractive  cos- 
tumes. 

The  branch  of  the  railway  proceeding  southward 
through  the  island,  is  constructed  nearer  the  western 
shore,  and  generally  upon  high  plateaus,  giving  ex- 
tensive views  over  the  barren  mountains.  The 
modern  engineers  who  built  the  line,  on  most  portions 
have  followed  the  route  of  the  ancient  Roman  road. 
At  Macomer,  it  passes  through  a  district  containing 
a  large  number  of  the  Nuraghi  monuments,  the  most 
elaborate  being  Santa  Barbara,  north  of  the  town, 
an  impressive  cone  constructed  upon  a  high  square 
base.  To  the  southward,  the  route  descends  to  a 
fertile  plain,  bordering  the  intervale  of  the  Tasso, 
the  chief  Sardinian  river.  This  is  the  Campidano 
plain,  through  which,  in  marshy  meadows,  the  Tasso 
flows  into  the  Gulf  of  Oristano,  on  the  western 
shore,  where  its  delta  covers  a  large  surface  bordered 
by  salt  lagoons  here  called  "  stagno."  The  Eoman 
port  of  Othoco  was  in  this  region,  its  successor  being 
now  Oristano,  with  attractive  towers  of  the  early 
fortifications  still  carefully  preserved.  This  was 
the  noted  district  of  Arborea,  and  its  native  ruler, 


SARDINIA  441 

the  Grand  Duchess  Eleanora,  who  died  in  1404, 
successfully  contended  with  the  king  of  Aragon,  the 
principal  square  being  embellished  with  Eleanora's 
marble  statue.  Eleanora  gave  the  people  a  charter 
of  liberty,  known  to  medieval  fame  as  the  "  Carte 
de  Logu,"  and  the  remains  of  the  castle  where  it 
was  granted  are  on  the  shore  of  the  salt  lagoon 
to  the  westward  of  the  town.  Beyond,  are  the 
scanty  remains  of  the  Phoenician  settlement  of 
Tharros.  On  the  fertile  slopes  to  the  northward 
of  Oristano,  sheltered  from  the  winds  by  the  moun- 
tain ranges,  are  extensive  orange  and  lemon  planta- 
tions, their  fragrance  perfuming  the  air,  and 
displaying  groves  of  the  finest  trees  in  existence. 
To  the  southward  is  Sanluri,  where,  after  Eleanora's 
death,  her  husband  and  successor,  Brancaleone  Doria, 
was  defeated  in  1409,  by  Martin,  king  of  Sicily,  who 
belonged  to  the  house  of  Aragon.  This  is  in  a 
region  noted  for  the  cultivation  of  saffron. 

Near  the  western  coast  of  Sardinia  is  Monte 
Murganai,  elevated  3,010  feet,  which  is  ascended  for 
its  superb  view.  Around  the  southern  base,  is  the 
most  important  mining  district  of  Sardinia,  the 
central  town  being  Tglesias,  where  there  are  12,000 
people,  its  name  derived  from  the  large  number 
of  churches,  while  so  many  fragrant  gardens  are  in 
the  suburbs,  that  it  has  gotten  the  popular  Italian 
title  of  flore  di  mundu  or  "  the  flower  of  the  world." 
The  Pisans  built  the  town  walls,  of  which  there  are 


442  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

interesting  remains  of  towers  and  battlements. 
They  also  constructed  the  cathedral  in  the  thirteenth 
century,  while  the  Aragonese,  when  they  got  pos- 
session in  the  next  century,  built  the  old  castle,  now 
in  partial  ruin.  The  mines  to  the  west  and  north 
of  the  town  were  worked  in  the  most  remote  times, 
and  the  ruins  of  the  Temple  of  Antas,  are  among 
the  northern  mines,  the  people  calling  it  the  "  House 
of  St.  Gregory."  Monteponi,  to  the  southwestward, 
rises  about  1,100  feet,  and  contains  the  richest  lead 
and  zinc  ores  in  Sardinia.  Off  the  coast  is  the  island 
of  San  Pietro,  the  ancient  Enosis,  a  mass  of 
trachyte,  with  fissured  and  columnar  cliffs  around 
its  shores,  the  adjacent  waters  having  prolific  tunny 
fisheries,  this  favorite  food  of  the  Italians  being 
taken  in  large  nets  during  May  and  June,  and  some 
of  the  fish  being  of  great  size.  To  the  southward 
is  San  Antioco  island,  connected  by  a  chain  of  low 
sand-pits  with  the  shore.  Its  present  small  town 
of  San  Antioco,  occupies  the  location  of  the  Phoani- 
cian  settlement  of  Sulci,  afterward  a  Roman  colony, 
and  displaying  many  antiquities,  among  them  the 
necropolis  of  both  those  nations,  and  a  spacious 
Roman  cistern.  Off  the  southern  coast  rise  three 
steep  and  peculiar  island  rocks,  which  the  natives 
have  named  the  Calf,  the  Cow  and  the  Bull. 

The  southern  Sardinian  coast  is  picturesque,  hav- 
ing deeply  indented  into  it  the  Gulf  of  Cagliari,  with 
the  projecting  cape  of  Santa  Elia  bifurcating  its 


SARDINIA  443 

inner  shore,  a  bold  rock  rising  about  500  feet  from 
the  sea.  The  wide  and  fertile  plain  that  stretches 
from  the  Gulf  of  Oristano  to  the  Gulf  of  Cagliari, 
known  as  the  Campidano,  is  rich  in  corn,  wine  and 
oil,  and  well  populated,  though  lacking  rain  it  be- 
comes very  hot  in  summer  from  the  African  winds, 
and  is  exposed  to  malarial  influences.  Tall  hedges 
of  cactus  enclose  the  fields,  and  most  of  the 
village  houses  are  built  of  bricks  dried  in  the 
sun.  Thirty-two  miles  eastward  from  Iglesias  runs 
the  railway,  which  turns  southeast  through  this 
plain,  and  goes  out  to  the  gulf  shore  at  Cagliari, 
the  chief  city  and  capital  of  Sardinia,  spreading 
over  the  plain  as  it  stretches  toward  the  sea,  and 
having  to  the  eastward,  the  projecting  ridge  ter- 
minating in  Cape  Santa  Elia.  It  is  noted  for  its 
sweet  cakes,  which  are  an  almost  universal  food 
of  the  people,  and  for  the  salt  produced  by  convict 
labor  from  the  extensive  lagoons  surrounding  the 
city;  and  it  is  also  regarded  as  a  very  hot  place 
during  most  of  the  year.  A  precipitous  hill  rises 
290  feet  high  between  two  broad  lagoons,  and  on  its 
slope  the  city  is  built.  The  Stagno  di  Cagliari,  on 
the  western  side,  down  to*the  middle  ages  was  a 
bay,  and  on  its  low  inner  shore,  between  the  beach 
and  the  hill  slope,  northwest  of  the  present  city,  the 
Phoenicians  made  their  first  settlement  that  became 
the  Roman  Carales,  from  which  the  present  name  is 
derived.  The  older  town  then  was  built  on  the 


444  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

hill,  the  newer  town  being  on  the  slopes  to  the 
east  and  south,  and  now  there  are  about  fifty 
thousand  population.  A  tree-shaded  street,  the 
Via  Roma,  fronts  the  harbor,  and  is  the  fashionable 
promenade.  From  this  another  broad  street,  the 
Largo,  goes  inland,  through  the  modern  town,  to 
the  central  square,  the  Piazza  Yeune,  in  the  centre 
of  which  is  the  ancient  column  marking  the  termina- 
tion of  the  Roman  road  leading  northward,  through 
the  island,  to  Porto  Torres.  Here,  at  the  end  of 
the  Largo,  is  a  statue  of  King  Charles  Felix  I.  From 
the  Piazza,  down  to  the  coast,  stretches  the  busiest 
street  of  Cagliari,  called  in  various  parts  the  Via 
Manno,  the  Corso  Vittorio  Emanuele,  and  in  the 
lower  portion,  the  Via  Garibaldi.  The  Castello,  or 
older  town,  is  on  top  of  the  hill,  enclosed  by  its 
ancient  walls,  with  their  gates  and  towers,  and  here 
are  the  palaces  of  the  nobles  and  the  principal 
buildings,  while  terraces  on  the  verge  of  the  hill, 
replacing  the  old  bastions,  that  were  removed, 
have  a  pleasant  view.  Steep  streets  and  flights 
of  steps,  give  access  and  add  to  the  picturesque- 
ness.  Here  is  the  cathedral,  built  by  the  Pisans 
in  the  early  fourteenth  century,  though  modernized, 
and  in  it  is  the  Tomb  of  Martin  II  of  Aragon, 
who  died  in  1409.  The  University  was  founded 
by  Philip  III  of  Spain,  in  the  sixteenth  century, 
and  has  a  large  library,  and  a  museum  established 
by  King  Charles  Felix  in  1806.  The  ancient 


MALTA  445 

Roman  amphitheatre,  excavated  in  the  rock,  slop- 
ing toward  the  sea,  is  well  preserved,  while  there 
are  numerous  Roman  houses,  tombs  and  other  sur- 
vivals, including  the  ancient  aqueducts  and  reser- 
voirs, Carales  having  been  entirely  dependent  on 
rain-water  for  its  supply.  In  the  neighborhood  of 
Cagliari  is  produced  the  Malvagiu,  or  malmsey 
wine.  The  western  shore  of  the  Gulf  of  Cagliari 
extends  far  away  to  the  southward,  and  down  there 
are  the  remains  of  the  oldest  town  in  Sardinia,  the 
Phoenician  Nora,  where  there  are  traces  of  a  theatre, 
aqueduct,  tombs,  and  some  ruined  houses,  over- 
flowed by  the  sea.  Here  is  the  church  of  Santa 
Efisio,  and  at  the  festival  at  the  beginning  of  May, 
the  remains  of  the  Saint  are  brought  in  solemn 
procession,  eighteen  miles  from  Cagliari,  and  ex- 
hibited in  the  church,  the  ceremonial  continuing  two 
days.  The  extreme  southern  coast  of  Sardinia 
faces  the  Mediterranean,  in  the  bold  capes  Spar- 
tivento  and  Teulada,  but  the  distance  is  not  very 
far  across  the  sea  to  Tunisia  in  Africa. 

MALTA. 

From  the  African  coast,  the  depressed  strata  of 
the  Atlas  mountains,  submerged  under  the  sea, 
cross  the  comparatively  narrow  waterway  interven- 
ing between  Africa  and  the  shore  of  Sicily  to  the 
northeast,  and  stretch  to  the  eastward  also.  These 
strata  occasionally  rise  above  the  surface,  in  various 


4:46  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

islands,  the  most  famous  being  the  precipitous  and 
originally  sterile  rock,  that  the  ancients  called 
Melita,  and  which  we  know  as  Malta.  The  Mal- 
tese group,  composed  of  Malta,  Gozzo,  Comina,  and 
some  other  uninhabited  rocks,  is  near  the  centre  of 
the  Mediterranean  basin,  and  they  appear  as  the 
remains  of  an  ancient  chain  of  islands,  much  worn 
and  still  wearing  away  by  the  sea.  In  the  approach 
by  steamer,  there  being  no  very  high  hills  upon  it, 
Malta,  when  first  sighted  at  a  distance  of  a  dozen 
miles,  has  the  appearance  of  a  barren  and  low- 
lying  shore.  Soon  the  island  changes,  and  seems 
like  a  rock  of  yellow  sandstone,  rising  out  of  the 
sea,  and  made  the  more  plainly  visible  by  the  rays 
of  the  setting  sun.  Approaching  nearer,  it  is 
found  to  be  a  mass  of  white,  gray,  reddish  and  yel- 
low sandstone,  the  blue  sea  running  up  into  various 
bays  of  the  brown  and  yellow  land,  diversified  by 
valleys  and  steep  hills,  and  relieved  by  the  patches 
of  deep  green  in  the  fields,  though  the  general 
aspect  of  the  surface  is  bare,  there  being  no  woods, 
while  all  the  fields  are  enclosed  by  stone  walls. 
Sailing  still  closer,  the  mass  of  yellow  rocks  and 
colored  sandstone,  gradually  resolves  into  a  grand 
city,  ascending  abruptly  out  of  the  water,  with 
church  spires,  watch-towers,  lofty  buildings,  and  a 
network  of  enormous  forts  all  around  it.  The 
strong  defences  rise  one  above  another,  the  sentries, 
in  their  English  red-coats,  pacing  the  parapets,  and 


Harbor  Entrance  and  Fort  Ricasoli,  Malta. 


MALTA  447 

black  guns  peeping  over  the  edges,  and  through 
many  portholes  in  the  sandstone.  The  steamer 
passes  in  front  of  the  forts,  turns  around  a  sharp 
angle  of  high  rock,  bearing  the  huge  castle  of  St. 
Elmo,  and  then  by  a  comparatively  narrow  inlet 
enters  the  grand  harbor,  and  anchors.  Here,  amid 
a  fleet  of  warships,  and  surrounded  by  forts,  with 
another  harbor  running  up  into  the  land,  where  the 
merchant  shipping  moor,  a  wild  horde  of  Maltese 
boatmen,  with  scarlet  caps  and  sashes,  in  their  gaily 
painted  and  white  awning-covered  gondolas,  surround 
the  anchored  ship,  and  noisily  clamor  to  get  pos- 
session of  the  passengers  for  landing. 

Malta  is  about  seventeen  miles  long  and  nine 
miles  wide,  with  a  surface  of  less  than  one  hundred 
square  miles.  It  has  little  water;  no  river,  brook, 
or  lake  exists;  there  is  neither  forest  nor  brush- 
wood; and  the  rocky  surface,  exposed  for  centuries 
to  the  parching  winds  of  the  African  desert,  is  but 
thinly  covered  with  an  artificial  soil,  most  of  which 
is  said  to  have  been  originally  brought  over  from 
Sicily.  This  soil  is  often  terraced  upon  the  sides 
of  the  hills,  to  guard  against  washing  away  by  the 
winter  rains.  It  is  carefully  cultivated,  and  made 
to  yield  two  or  three  crops  annually.  Cotton,  grains, 
hay  and  fruits  are  grown,  the  olive,  orange  and 
fig  being  renowned,  while  early  potatoes  are  raised  for 
the  English  market.  The  flowers  of  Malta  are 
famous,  and  Cicero  mentions  the  cushions  stuffed 


448  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

with  roses  sent  from  Malta  and  used  by  Verres 
in  Sicily.  In  summer  the  heat  is  excessive,  day 
and  night,  but  the  winter  climate  is  delightful.  The 
atmosphere  is  so  clear,  that  at  all  times  of  the  year 
the  distant  summit  of  Mount  Etna,  northward,  in 
Sicily,  may  be  seen  with  its  faint  smoke  cloud 
during  the  rising  or  setting  of  the  sun,  though  it 
is  one  hundred  and  thirty  miles  away.  The  north- 
ern and  eastern  coasts  of  the  island  are  broken 
by  deep  indentations  and  bays,  and  at  the 
southeastern  corner  is  the  bay  of  Scirocco,  which  is 
said  to  have  been  gradually  scooped  out  during  the 
ages  by  the  African  sirocco,  continually  blowing 
against  that  shore  with  unbroken  force.  The  high- 
est point  of  Malta  is  in  a  cluster  of  the 
Bingomma  hills,  remarkable  for  their  steeply  conical 
shapes,  which  are  near  Deagli,  and  look  out  upon 
the  southern  sea,  this  elevation  being  845  feet.  A 
little  way  off  is  Citta  Yechia,  the  ancient  capital, 
on  another  steep  height.  Upon  the  western  and 
southern  coasts,  the  cliffs  rise  sheer  from  the  sea, 
three  to  four  hundred  feet,  while  to  the  northward, 
the  rocks  are  generally  shelving  toward  the  water's 
edge,  though  the  harbor  of  Valetta  and  St.  Paul's 
bay  are  exceptions.  There  is  a  population  in  the 
group  of  islands  of  about  180,000,  including  the 
English  and  foreign  residents,  numbering  about 
10,000,  while  the  English  garrison  also  is  usually 
about  that  number.  The  natives  are  a  mixed  race, 


MALTA  449 

the  descendants  of  the  different  peoples  who  have 
at  various,  times  controlled  these  islands,  their  lan- 
guage being  an  Arabic  dialect  mingled  with  Italian, 
though  English  is  used  in  official  life.  They  are 
an  enterprising,  commercial  and  seafaring  race, 
who  conduct  trade  throughout  the  Mediterranean. 
Its-  central  position  gives  Malta  great  strategic  im- 
portance in  controlling  the  sea,  and  its  admirable 
harbor  of  Valetta,  guarding  the  Mediterranean 
route  to  the  East,  makes  it  and  Gibraltar  the  prin- 
cipal bulwarks  of  English  naval  supremacy. 

In  the  northwestern  part  of  the  island,  between 
St.  Paul's  bay  and  Melleha  bay,  in  a  ridgy  hill 
extending  back  from  the  sea,  are  several  caves,  one 
of  which,  having  a  clear  spring  of  water,  is  known 
as  Calypso's  grotto.  This  nymph,  who  was  the 
daughter  of  Atlas,  enslaved  Odysseus,  and  Homer 
calls  the  island  Ogygia  in  telling  the  story.  This 
is  the  earliest  mention  of  Malta,  and  the  first  known 
settlers  in  the  historic  period  were  the  Phoenicians 
from  Sidon.  Afterward,  in  the  eighth  century 
B.  C.,  the  Greeks  came,  it  being  then  known  as 
Melita.  There  have  been  various  prehistoric  re- 
mains explored,  in  1907  and  since,  which  show  the 
very  early  history  of  the  island  —  great  megalithic 
structures  which  were  temples  in  the  bronze  age, 
at  Hagiar  Kim,  Gigantio  and  Mnaidra,  with  Cor^ 
adino  and  Halsaftieni  excavated  in  the  rock  near 
Valetta,  the  latter  a  burial  place  where  much  ancient 
VOL.  1—29 


450  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

pottery  was  found.  The  Carthaginians  captured 
Malta,  and  then  the  Romans,  212  B.  C.,  the  latter 
erecting  temples  to  Apollo  and  Proserpine,  and 
other  structures,  of  which  traces  still  exist.  St. 
Paul,  in  the  year  61,  was  wrecked  in  what  is  now 
called  St.  Paul's  bay,  on  the  northern  coast,  and 
while  here,  made  several  converts  to  Christianity. 
He  is  said  to  have  lived  for  three  months,  in  a  grotto 
about  six  miles  southward,  now  part  of  Citta  Vechia, 
a  church  having  been  built  over  it.  The  Vandals, 
the  Goths  and  Belisarius,  were  subsequently  the 
successive  masters,  and  the  Arabs  came  in  the  ninth 
century,  and  the  Normans  from  Sicily  in  1090, 
after  which  the  island  for  several  centuries  was 
part  of  the  kingdom  of  Sicily,  over  which,  as  the 
heir  of  Aragon,  the  Emperor  Charles  V  ruled  in 
1530,  when  he  presented  Malta  to  the  Knights  of 
St.  John  of  Jerusalem,  who  had  been  expelled  from 
Rhodes  by  the  Turks.  Their  rule  continued  until 
1798,  during  which  era  Malta  achieved  its  greatest 
fame. 

This  noted  order  first  appeared  in  the  eleventh 
century  at  Jerusalem,  where  a  hospital  for  men  had 
been  established,  bearing  the  name  of  St.  John  the 
Almoner,  a  native  of  Cyprus  and  the  Patriarch  of 
Alexandria,  who  had  lived  in  the  sixth  century  and 
had  given  great  aid  to  the  people  of  Jerusalem. 
Those  in  charge  of  this  hospital,  displayed  such 
heroic  charity  when  Jerusalem  was  captured  by  the 


MALTA  '451 

crusaders  in  1099,  that  several  noble  knights  then 
joined  them.  The  Order  growing,  the  Pope  approved 
its  objects,  and  hospitals  for  pilgrims  were  estab- 
lished at  various  places.  In  the  twelfth  century  the 
Knights  extended  their  sphere  of  duty,  and  armed 
themselves,  for  the  protection  of  the  pilgrims  and 
Christians  of  Jerusalem,  against  the  Moslems.  This 
attracted  the  young  nobility  from  all  parts  of 
Europe,  and  they  took  a  vow  for  the  defence  of 
Christians  from  insult  and  wrong,  and  built  at 
Jerusalem  a  magnificent  new  church,  dedicated  to 
St.  John  the  Baptist,  after  whom  they  called  the 
Order.  Their  influence  was  largely  extended,  they 
took  part  in  various  crusades,  and  incurring  the 
special  enmity  of  the  Turks,  they  were  attacked  by 
Saladin,  and  almost  overwhelmed,  when  the  Moslems 
captured  Jerusalem.  They  revived,  but  were  de- 
feated at  Gaza,  and  again  at  Acre,  when  they  retired 
to  Cyprus,  and  in  1309  secured  the  island  of  Rhodes, 
which  became  their  headquarters,  and  was  held  for 
two  centuries  against  repeated  attacks  by  the  Turks. 
In  1522,  after  a  gallant  defence,  they  were  driven  out 
of  Rhodes,  and  wandered  through  Candia,  Sicily  and 
Italy,  when  in  1530,  Charles  V  gave  them  an  abid- 
ing place  in  Malta.  The  Mediterranean  had  then 
become  a  chief  theatre  of  warfare  between  the  Chris- 
tians and  the  Turks,  and  the  Knights  made  the  island 
one  of  the  strongest  places  in  the  world,  and  it  was 
regarded  as  the  great  bulwark  of  Christendom,  the 


452"  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

Order  assuming  the  title  of  Knights  of  Malta,  with 
Citta  Vechia  as  their  capital. 

The  Turks  attacked  them  in  1551,  and  were  driven 
off,  but  came  again  in  1565,  making  the  most  fearful 
siege  of  that  era,  continuing  nearly  four  months,  be- 
fore they  were  repulsed.  The  Grand  Master  of  the 
Order  was  Jean  Parisot  de  La  Valette,  who  was 
born  in  1494,  and  chosen  to  the  office  in  1557,  dying 
in  Malta  in  1568.  The  Sultan  Solyman  the  Mag- 
nificent, determining  upon  their  annihilation,  sent  an 
expedition  on  May  18,  1565,  of  one  hundred  and 
eighty  Turkish  war  vessels,  carrying  thirty  thousand 
troops,  and  added  repeated  reinforcements.  La 
Y  alette,  anticipating  their  coming,  had  built  new 
fortifications  on  the  northeastern  extremity  of  the 
peninsula  in  the  harbor  where  Valetta  now  is,  and 
his  garrison  was  only  seven  hundred  Knights  and 
eighty-five  hundred  soldiers,  including  the  armed  in- 
habitants, yet  with  these  he  withstood  the  terrific 
siege  until  September  8,  when  a  force  of  eight  thou- 
sand men  came  to  his  help  from  Naples,  compelling 
the  Turks  to  take  refuge  in  their  ships.  They  re- 
newed the  attack  shortly  afterward,  but  were  de- 
feated with  great  slaughter,  and  retreated  in  disor- 
der. The  Turkish  losses  were  said  to  have  been 
fully  thirty  -thousand  during  the  siege,  while  the 
Knights,  at  the  end,  had  only  about  six  hundred  men 
remaining  out  of  all  their  combatants.  La  Valette 
rebuilt  and  strengthened  the  fortifications,  and 


MALTA  453 

founded  here  the  town  of  Valetta,  to  which  he  re- 
moved the  capital,  and  these  fortifications  have  been 
extended  and  improved,  so  that  Valetta  is  now  re- 
garded as  an  impregnable  fortress.  On  June  IT, 
1798,  Napoleon  was  at  Malta  with  the  French  expe- 
dition to  Egypt,  and  he  got  possession  by  treachery 
and  stratagem,  practically  bribing  the  Grand  Master 
Hompesch,  who  abdicated.  The  Order  afterward 
dwindled,  being  protected  for  awhile  by  the  Emperor 
Paul  of  Russia,  but  since  1805  its  affairs  have  been 
administered  from  Rome.  The  French,  however, 
did  not  long  hold  possession  of  Malta,  for  in  Septem^ 
her,  1798,  the  English  began  a  siege,  lasting  two 
years,  and  in  September,  1800,  they  captured  the 
island,  which  they  have  since  controlled. 

In  November,  1908,  Malta  had  its  terrible  mod- 
ern tragedy,  in  the  burning  of  the  steamship  Sar- 
dinia, which  had  come  from  Liverpool  and  leaving 
Valetta  early  on  the  25th  to  sail  to  Egypt,  caught 
fire  when  going  out  of  the  harbor,  and  within  sight 
of  the  population  who  lined  the  shores,  was  burnt, 
there  being  140  passengers  roasted  to  death,  many  of 
them  being  Arab  pilgrims  going  to  Mecca.  The 
brave  captain  was  burnt  at  the  helm. 

Valetta,  in  its  admirable  harbor,  and  surrounded 
on  all  sides  by  the  great  defensive  forts,  is  one  of 
the  most  extraordinary  places  in  the  world.  A  ca- 
pacious bay  opens  toward  the  northeast,  on  that  side 
of  Malta.  All  around  the  bay  are  high  ridges,  which 


454:  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

stretch  forth  in  tongues  of  land  with  intervening 
waterways,  while  protruding  through  the  centre,  like 
another  huge  tongue  thrust  out  of  a  mouth,  toward 
the  sea,  is  the  elevated  rocky  ridge  of  Monte  Sceber- 
ras,  dividing  the  bay  into  two  spacious  harbors. 
At  the  entrance  from  the  sea,  on  either  hand  the  en- 
closing borders  turn  inward  toward  the  central 
tongue,  making  comparatively  narrow  passages,  and 
on  the  inland  peninsulas  of  the  eastern  or  Great  Har- 
bor, are  built  the  various  towns,  known  familiarly 
as  the  "  Three  Cities,"  Vittoriosa,  the  home  of  the 
working  people;  Burmula,  the  naval  station  and 
dockyard ;  and  Senglea,  on  the  opposite  shore  of  the 
dockyard  creek.  High  above  them,  on  the  outer  ex- 
tremity of  the  central  tongue  of  land,  is  Valetta,  its 
steep  streets  running  up  from  the  quays  at  the 
waterside  all  around,  to  the  plateau  on  top,  many  of 
them  being  long  staircases.  At  the  outer  end,  and 
facing  the  sea,  is  the  formidable  Castle  of  St.  Elmo, 
while  across  the  narrow  entrances  on  either  hand,  on 
the  terminating  headlands  enclosing  the  bay,  are 
Fort  Ricasoli  to  the  eastward,  and  Fort  Tignete  to 
the  westward,  the  latter  reinforced  on  another  pro- 
truding rock  peninsula,  just  inside,  across  the  inter- 
vening estuary  of  Sliema  Creek,  by  the  powerful 
Fort  Manoel,  set  at  the  opening  to  the  interior  Mar- 
samuchetto  Harbor,  on  the  northwest  side  of  the 
central  tongue.  For  about  a  mile,  upon  the  sum- 
mit plateau  of  this  tongue,  Valetta  spreads  back 


MALTA  455 

from  the  sea,  its  Cathedral  of  San  Giovanni,  and  the 
less  impressive  Palace  of  the  Governor,  formerly  the 
Grand  Master's  headquarters,  dominating  the  sum- 
mit. On  the  land  side  are  additional  elaborate  de- 
fensive works,  between  the  town  and  the  Floriana 
suburb,  access  being  cut  off  on  that  side,  by  the  most 
spacious  fosse  existing  in  Europe.  Huge  100-ton 
guns  are  mounted  on  St.  Elmo  and  Eicasoli,  defend- 
ing the  approach  to  the  Great  Harbor;  the  British 
flag  flies  from  the  staffs  on  both  forts  and  on  the 
Governor's  Palace ;  the  whole  place  is  conducted  as  a 
military  post  and  naval  station,  the  morning  and 
evening  guns  noting  the  beginning  and  ending  of  the 
official  day;  and  thus  is  the  English  control  of  the 
Mediterranean,  signalled  at  the  centre  of  the  famous 
sea,  the  same  as  at  Gibraltar,  guarding  the  entrance. 
Since  history  began,  the  race  at  the  time  controlling 
the  Mediterranean,  has  held  Malta  as  its  strong- 
hold. 

Valetta  is  a  wonderful  place  to  visit,  albeit  the 
visitor  may  be  fatigued  by  climbing  its  staircase 
streets,  to  get  from  the  harbor  up  to  the  town.  It 
disputes  with  Venice  the  title  of  the  "  City  of  Pal- 
aces." Lord  Beaconsfield  wrote  of  it,  "  Malta  is  cer- 
tainly a  most  delightful  station.  Its  city,  Valetta, 
equals  in  its  noble  architecture,  if  it  does  not  even 
excel,  any  capital  in  Europe.  If  that  fair  city,  with 
its  streets  of  palaces,  its  picturesque  forts  and  mag- 
nificent church,  only  crowned  some  green  and  azure 


456  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

island  of  the  Ionian  sea,  Corfu  for  instance,  I  really 
think  that  the  ideal  of  landscape  would  be  realized." 
Malta  is  the  great  halting  place  for  vessels,  going 
in  every  direction  through  the  Mediterranean,  and 
this  makes  the  cosmopolitan  character  of  the  people 
seen  in  the  streets  of  Valetta,  which  first  impresses 
the  visitor.  Having  run  the  gauntlet  of  the  screech- 
ing and  brigand-looking  boatmen,  who  quarrel  for 
the  chance  to  take  the  passenger  and  baggage  ashore, 
and  having  been  landed,  the  streets  present  a  diversi- 
fied population,  Turks,  Syrians,  Persians,  Greeks, 
wearing  their  national  costumes,  native  Maltese  and 
dark  Italians,  with  negroes  from  Africa,  English 
uniformed  officers,  red-coated  soldiers  and  sauntering 
sailors,  many  priests  and  religious  processions,  while 
the  women  almost  universally  wear  black  dresses  and 
hoods,  without  any  relief  in  color.  The  legend  ex- 
plaining this  is,  that  when  Malta  was  sacked  by  the 
French  troops,  the  women  vowed  that  in  memory  of 
their  brutal  treatment,  they  would  for  a  hundred 
years  dress  in  black  and  wear  a  distinctive  hood,  the 
faldoita,  popularly  known  as  the  "  hood  of  shame," 
and  though  the  century  has  passed,  the  custom  still 
exists.  This  is  a  huge  bonnet,  with  a  long  skirt 
reaching  to  the  waist,  and  totally  black  without  orna- 
ment. 

The  "  Great  Harbor,"  which  has  ample  space  and 
depth  of  water,  also  has  on  its  southeastern  side,  op- 
posite the  central  tongue  of  Valetta,  no  less  than  five 


MALTA  457 

deep  waterways  thrust  far  into  the  land,  with  inter- 
vening peninsulas,  and  here  are  the  "  Three  Cities  " 
and  the  great  station  and  dockyard  which  is  the  Brit- 
ish naval  headquarters  in  the  Mediterranean,  with 
its  huge  docks,  repair  shops,  foundries,  storehouses 
and  bakery.  Valetta,  from  its  high  hill,  looks  out 
upon  this  busy  scene.  The  Castle  of  St.  Elmo,  at 
the  sea  front,  has  its  beacon  lights  to  guide  the  ships, 
and  from  it,  southwest  through  the  city,  stretches  the 
chief  street,  displaying  attractive  shops,  the  Strada 
Eeale,  to  the  Porta  Eeale,  the  gateway  at  the  huge 
fosse,  separating  Valetta  from  Floriana.  In  the  cen- 
tre of  the  city,  this  street  expands  into  the  open 
promenade  of  St.  George's  Square,  where  the  mili- 
tary band  plays  in  the  afternoons.  Along  one  side 
is  the  spacious  Palace  of  the  Governor,  a  somewhat 
plain  structure  built  around  two  courts,  the  interior 
halls  containing  various  relics  of  the  Knights  of 
Malta,  with  a  corridor  of  portraits  of  their  Grand 
Masters.  There  are  a  library  and  a  museum  of 
Maltese  antiquities  in  the  adjunct  buildings,  and  a 
marble  statue  of  Queen  Victoria  adorns  a  smaller 
piazza  alongside.  To  the  southwest  is  the  richly 
decorated  cathedral  of  San  Giovanni,  built  by  the 
Knights  in  the  sixteenth  century,  and  containing 
many  of  their  tombs,  including  those  of  L'Isle  Adam, 
the  first  Grand  Master  at  Malta,  and  La  Valette. 
There  is  a  painting  of  the  beheading  of  St.  John, 
by  Michael  Angelo,  in  one  of  the  chapels,  and  va- 


458  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

rious  tower-keys  taken  from  the  Turks  are  preserved 
as  relics,  particularly  the  keys  of  Jerusalem,  Acre 
and  Rhodes.  Each  nationality  of  the  Knights,  of 
which  there  were  seven,  had  a  separate  chapel  in  the 
cathedral,  the  Portuguese,  Spaniards,  Provencals, 
Austrians,  Italians,  Frenchmen  and  Bavarians. 
The  interior  is  richly  decorated,  notwithstanding  the 
fact  that  when  the  French  captured  the  city  in  1798, 
they  carried  off  the  most  valuable  church  possessions, 
jewels,  golden  vessels,  statues,  vestments  and  art 
works,  it  being  said  that  Napoleon  himself  took  a 
diamond  ring  from  the  finger  of  the  jeweled  glove 
covering  the  hand  of  St.  John,  and  also  the  diamond- 
mounted  sword  of  Grand  Master  La  Valette.  In  the 
church  tower  is  a  chime  of  ten  bells,  and  its  clock  has 
a  triple  face,  one  dial  showing  the  hour  of  the  day, 
another  the  day  of  the  week,  and  the  third  the  day 
of  the  month.  Each  nationality  of  the  Knights  also 
had  their  Auberges  or  homes  in  the  city,  now  con- 
verted into  hospitals,  barracks  and  hotels,  etc.,  the 
most  interesting  of  these  being  the  Auberge  de  Cas- 
tile (the  Spaniards),  now  the  combined  mess  of  the 
British  artillery  and  engineers,  and  described  as  the 
"  finest  mess-house  in  the  world."  The  military 
Malta  Union  Club  occupies  the  Auberge  of  the 
Provencals.  Some  of  the  bastions  and  former  mili- 
tary parades  are  now  laid  out  as  gardens,  and  this  is 
especially  done  where  they  have  a  fine  outlook  over 
the  harbor,  the  adornments  being  statues  of  the  Grand 


MALTA  459 

Masters  and  British  Governors.  One  of  the  best  of 
these  gardens  is  the  Piazza  Regina  fronting  the 
Auberge  de  Castile.  This  commands  a  splendid 
view  of  the  harbor,  nearly  two  hundred  feet  below, 
with  its  five  separate  basins,  the  docks  and  stores  of 
the  naval  station,  and  the  fortified  "  Three  Cities," 
surrounding  and  spreading  up  the  heights  behind. 

On  the  western  side  of  Valetta,  across  Marsamu- 
chetto  bay,  with  its  four  protruding  peninsulas  and 
enclosed  intervening  basins,  are  more  fortifications 
and  towns,  Pieta,  Misida,  San  Giuliano  and  Sliema, 
which  are  residential  suburbs.  Over  there  is  also  an 
aqueduct  begun  by  the  Knights  in  1610,  which  brings 
water  to  Valetta  from  the  higher  western  parts  of  the 
island,  and  the  Malta  railway,  which  runs  to  Citta 
Vechia,  the  ancient  capital,  known  as  La  Notabile. 
This  town  of  Citta  Vechia  is  well  fortified  and  oc- 
cupies a  high  eminence,  a  steep  road  mounting  the 
hill  to  the  fortress.  It  is  an  ancient  place,  and  its 
cathedral  is  said  to  occupy  the  site  of  the  house  of 
Publius,  the  Roman  governor  of  the  island,  who  gave 
a  hospitable  reception  to  the  shipwrecked  St.  Paul. 
Cannon  are  mounted  in  front,  thus  continuing  the 
custom  of  the  Knights,  and  the  interior  has  many  rel- 
ics of  their  rule,  including  a  silver  crucifix  brought 
from  Rhodes.  In  the  southern  part  of  the  town,  the 
Church  of  St  Paul  is  built  over  the  grotto  where 
he  is  said  to  have  sojourned.  There  are  various 
Roman  relics  and  remains  of  structures  of  that  age, 


460  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

and  the  Catacombs,  partly  of  Roman  origin,  are 
quite  extensive.  Among  other  curious  places  is  the 
Chapel  of  human  skulls  and  bones,  artistically  ar- 
ranged, having  been  collected  from  various  sepul- 
chres. The  monks  held  services  in  an  adjoining 
chapel.  To  the  southward  of  the  town  are  the  ruins 
of  the  ancient  Phoenician  temple  of  Hagiar  Kim, 
while  a  favorite  excursion  is  northward  to  St.  Paul's 
bay,  the  locality  where  the  Apostle  was  shipwrecked, 
and  curious  little  shells  are  found,  which  the  Maltese 
call  "  St.  Paul's  Teeth."  Comino,  an  island  which 
has  scarcely  any  inhabitants,  is  northwest  of  Malta, 
and  beyond  is  the  larger  island  of  Gozzo,  the  ancient 
Gaulus.  The  steamer  voyage  thither  gives  a  good 
view  of  the  cliffs  and  bays  of  the  Malta  coast,  and  of 
the  rocky  grottoes,  scooped  out  by  the  sea,  in  the 
western  promontories  of  Comino.  The  chief  relic 
of  Gozzo  is  the  Torre  de  Giganti,  a  Phoenician  con- 
struction built  of  blocks  of  stone  without  mortar. 

THE    ITALIAN    ISLANDS. 

There  are  several  attractive  islands  in  the  Mediter- 
ranean off  the  Italian  western  coast.  To  the  east- 
ward of  Corsica,  the  promontory  of  Piombino  is  ex- 
tended from  the  Tuscan  shore  of  Italy,  and  about 
five  miles  away  is  the  imposing  mountain  group  mak- 
ing the  island  of  Elba,  famous  as  the  place  of  Napo- 
leon's exile.  It  was  the  Greek  ^Ethalia,  and  the 
Roman  Ilva,  noted  from  the  earliest  times  for  rich 


THE  ITALIAN  ISLANDS  461 

deposits  of  iron  ore.  Elba  is  about  eighteen  miles 
long  and  averages  seven  miles  wide,  its  picturesque 
coasts  rising  inland  into  masses  of  mountains,  of 
which  the  highest  summit  Monte  Capanne  is  elevated 
3,300  feet.  The  chief  town  is  Porto  Ferrajo,  on  the 
northern  shore,  upon  a  splendid  bay  enclosed  by  an 
amphitheatre  of  mountains,  its  name  coming  from 
the  iron  it  exports.  The  mountainous  surface  makes 
the  whole  environment  of  Elba  a  series  of  deep  bays 
and  bold  promontories,  forming  a  very  irregular 
outline,  the  breadth  in  some  places  not  exceeding 
three  miles,  while  the  enclosed  valleys  are  fertile. 
The  iron  mining,  however,  more  than  agriculture, 
has  been  its  chief  industry,  the  ores  being  mainly 
found  in  a  mountain  near  the  eastern  coast,  two  miles 
in  circumference,  fully  five  hundred  feet  high,  and 
the  ores  yielding  fifty  to  seventy-five  per  cent  of  the 
metal.  The  early  mine  shafts  of  the  ancients  are 
still  visible.  Various  Italian  cities  controlled  Elba 
in  the  middle  ages,  and  it  finally  came  to  Charles 
V,  who  presented  the  island  to  Duke  Cosimo  of 
Florence,  who  fortified  Porto  Ferrajo  in  the  six- 
teenth century,  constructing  Forts  Stella  and  Falcone 
on  the  heights  commanding  the  harbor  entrance. 
The  French  got  possession  in  1801,  and  Napoleon 
•united  Elba  with  the  new  kingdom  of  Etruria,  which 
he  then  formed  on  the  Italian  shore.  In  1814,  upon 
Napoleon's  abdication,  the  island  was  made  into  a 
special  sovereignty  for  him,  and  he  came  here  in 


462  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

May.  The  Villa  San  Martino,  which  he  occupied, 
is  now  the  show  place  of  Porto  Ferrajo,  on  the  hill 
between  the  forts,  and  contains  a  museum  of  Napo- 
leonic relics.  During  his  brief  sovereignty,  Napo- 
leon constructed  a  road  through  the  mountain  passes 
to  Porto  Longane,  on  the  eastern  shore,  near  the  iron 
deposits,  a  picturesque  stronghold  which  the  Span- 
iards first  built.  Napoleon  remained  in  Elba  until 
February  26,  1815,  when,  having  fomented  discon- 
tent in  France,  he  sailed  away  over  the  northern  sea, 
landed  at  Cannes,  had  a  triumphal  march  to  Paris 
and  conducted  his  wonderful  "  Campaign  of  the 
Hundred  Days  "  that  ended  with  his  final  overthrow 
at  Waterloo.  Then  Elba  reverted  to  the  Grand  Duke 
of  Tuscany,  and-  it  is  now  part  of  the  Kingdom  of 
Italy.  Elba  is  the  chief  island  of  what  is  known  as 
the  Tuscan  Archipelago.  To  the  northwest  is  the 
small  wine-growing  island  of  Capreja,  the  "  Isle  of 
Goats,"  a  name  coming  down  from  the  Roman  days, 
and  farther  off  is  sterile  Gorgona,  inhabited  also  by 
wild  goats,  with  a  few  fishermen.  About  seven 
miles  southwest  of  Elba  is  the  low  and  comparatively 
level  island  of  Pianosa,  anciently  named  Planasia, 
because  of  its  flatness,  and  to  which  the  Emperor 
Augustus  banished  his  grandson  Agrippa  Postumus. 
The  granite  rock  of  Monte  Cristo,  about  six  miles 
in  circumference,  and  having  the  ruins  of  a  monas- 
tery which  Barbarossa's  pirates  destroyed,  is  twen- 
ty-five miles  south  of  Elba.  A  submarine  ridge 


THE  ITALIAN  ISLANDS  463 

runs  eastward  from  it  to  the  Italian  shore,  where  it 
rises  into  the  imposing  promontory  of  Monte  Argen- 
tario,  extending  far  into  the  sea,  and  almost  detached 
from  the  land.  The  summit  of  Monte  Cristo  has 
two  peaks,  about  2,100  feet  high,  on  one  of  which 
is  a  monastery.  Directly  in  front,  and  about  nine 
miles  away,  the  submarine  ridge  rises  in  the  moun- 
tain island  of  Giglio,  elevated  1,700  feet.  This  was 
the  noted  Roman  summer  resort  of  Igileum  and  there 
are  ruins  of  various  palaces  of  that  time. 

Farther  down  the  Italian  coast  is  the  group  of 
Pontine  or  Ponza  islands,  between  Sardinia  and 
Italy,  a  half-dozen  volcanic  formations,  which  are 
still  used  as  in  the  Roman  times,  as  a  place  of  ban- 
ishment for  convicts.  The  best  known  is  Yentotene 
on  the  eastern  verge  of  the  group,  the  Roman  Panda- 
taria  of  melancholy  fame,  whither  Augustus  sent  his 
abandoned  daughter  Julia,  and  Tiberius  banished 
Agrippina  the  daughter  of  Julia,  and  Nero  his  wife 
Octavia,  whom  he  had  divorced.  About  twice  a 
week  a  steamboat  comes  out  to  these  islands  from 
Naples. 

The  magnificent  mountain-enclosed  Gulf  of  Na- 
ples is  guarded  on  either  hand  by  noble  promontories, 
each  having  in  the  offing  famous  islands.  Cape 
Miseno  on  the  western  verge  has  extending  beyond 
it  and  evidently  part  of  the  same  formation,  the  is- 
land of  Procida  and  farther  out  Ischia,  both  of  vol- 
canic formation,  while  Point  Campanella  at  the 


464  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

southeastern  verge,  the  rock  on  which  Ulysses  built 
his  Temple  of  Minerva,  has  three  miles  out  at  sea, 
the  celebrated  Capri  isle.  The  island  of  Procida, 
the  ancient  Prochyta,  was  gradually  built  up  of 
pumice  stone  and  lava,  cast  out  of  three  craters,  one 
now  forming  the  gorge  of  a  creek,  while  the  other 
two,  which  are  much  larger,  have  had  their  margins 
on  one  side  washed  away  by  the  action  of  the  sea, 
and  make  two  spacious  semicircular  bays  on  the 
Italian  side  of  the  island.  Originally  there  was  an- 
other larger  crater,  through  which  the  sea  has  com- 
pletely washed,  and  has  thus  detached  from  Procida 
the  little  olive-clad  island  of  Vivara,  on  its  western 
side.  Procida  is  about  two  miles  long  and  has  a 
large  population  who  cultivate  it  thoroughly,  rais- 
ing fruits  and  wines.  Its  town  of  Procida  is  on 
the  northeastern  shore,  the  glistening,  white  flat- 
roofed  houses  contrasting  with  the  environment  of 
green,  as  the  steamer  approaches,  and  the  old  de- 
fensive castle  on  the  extremity  of  the  island  being 
the  most  conspicuous  structure.  This  castle  which 
has  a  fine  view  of  the  Gulf  of  Naples  is  now  a  prison. 
Beyond  Procida  is  beautiful  Ischia,  its  splendid 
hills  rising  behind  the  town  and  castle  of  Ischia,  and 
culminating  in  the  noble  summit  of  the  Epomeo, 
elevated  2,800  feet,  near  the  centre  of  the  island,  now 
an  extinct  volcano,  whose  eruptions  in  past  ages  sub- 
stantially formed  it.  The  town  stretches  along  the 
shore  of  a  pretty  bay,  having  out  in  the  sea  at  the 


THE  ITALIAN  ISLANDS  465 

southern  edge,  a  picturesque  castle  on  a  high  and 
isolated  rock  of  volcanic  tufa  and  ashes.  Alfonso  I 
of  Naples  built  it  in  the  fifteenth  century,  and  a 
stone  pier,  connecting  the  rock  with  the  land,  par- 
tially protects  the  harbor.  The  town  has  about  seven 
thousand  inhabitants,  and  the  island  twenty-five 
thousand,  who  cultivate  wines  and  fruits,  and  some 
also  get  a  livelihood  by  fishing,  while  from  remote 
times  they  have  made  mattoni  (tiles)  and  other  pot- 
tery from  the  gray  clay  found  here.  Ischia  was  the 
ancient  Pithecusa  and  ^Enaria  and  the  Iscla  of  the 
middle  ages.  Its  coasts  are  steep  and  rocky,  and 
its  form  an  oblong,  about  twenty  miles  around,  the 
valleys  being  of  unusual  fertility.  The  massive 
Epomeo  has  encircling  it,  twelve  other  and  smaller 
extinct  volcanoes,  and  the  scenery  of  intervening 
mountain  and  vale  is  very  beautiful.  This  volcano, 
the  Epomeus  of  antiquity,  was  in  active  operation  in 
prehistoric  times,  and  much  earlier  than  its  neighbor 
Vesuvius,  on  the  mainland  of  Italy.  Because  of 
the  repeated  eruptions,  the  early  Greek  colonists  de- 
serted the  island  in  the  fifth  century  B.  C.,  and 
several  severe  eruptions  also  occurred  during  the 
Roman  era.  The  mythological  story  was  that  the 
giant  Typhceus,  transfixed  by  the  thunderbolts  of 
Jupiter,  was  buried  beneath  the  mountain,  his  suffer- 
ings causing  periodical  groanings,  uproar  and  fearful 
outbursts  of  fire.  The  last  eruption  was  in  1302, 

and  it  is  believed  that  the  volcanic  activity  was  then 
VOL.  1—30 


466  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

transferred  to  Vesuvius.  The  great  lava  stream, 
then  descending  to  the  sea  near  Ischia,  can  be  readily 
traced,  not  yet  being  fully  covered  by  the  vegetation. 
A  terrific  earthquake  occurred  in  July,  1883,  which 
broke  a  large  mass  from  the  mountain,  and  for 
awhile  visitors  shunned  Ischia,  but  now  they  are  re- 
turning. The  island  has  been  part  of  the  Neapoli- 
tan kingdom  (now  Italy)  since  the  thirteenth  cen- 
tury. Ischia  was  the  birthplace  of  the  Marquis 
Pescara  in  1489,  and  his  widow  Vittoria  Colonna, 
famous  for  her  talent  and  beauty,  retired  to  the 
castle  in  1525,  to  mourn  his  loss.  She  was  the 
poetical  friend  of  Michael  Angelo. 

Ischia,  from  the  most  remote  period,  was  noted 
for  its  warm  springs  and  bathing.  A  road  crossing 
the  lava  stream  of  1302  leads  northward  to  Porto 
d'Ischia,  one  of  the  bathing  establishments,  with 
warm  salt  springs.  The  circular  harbor,  which  is 
an  extinct  crater,  was  formerly  a  lake,  but  an  open- 
ing has  been  made  to  the  sea,  that  gives  access  to 
vessels.  About  three  miles  away,  on  the  northern 
coast,  and  on  the  lower  slopes  of  Epomeo,  are  the 
warm  alkaline  and  saline  baths  of  Casamicciola,  the 
most  famous  on  the  island.  This  town  was  almost 
entirely  destroyed  by  the  earthquake  of  July,  1883, 
but  has  been  rebuilt  by  the  government,  and  has 
many  visitors  between  May  and  August.  The  prin- 
cipal spring,  the  Gurgitello,  rises  on  the  foothills  of 
the  mountain,  at  a  small  elevation,  with  water  at 


CAPRI  467 

147°  temperature.  In  the  suburbs  is  the  Campo 
Santo,  where  the  seventeen  hundred  victims  of  the 
earthquake  were  buried.  At  Lacco,  to  the  westward, 
are  more  hot  springs,  providing  vapor  baths,  rising 
in  the  gardens  of  a  former  monastery.  The  Church 
of  Santa  Restituta,  the  patroness  of  Ischia,  is  in  the 
village.  On  the  western  coast  is  Forio,  the  chief 
town,  with  about  eight  thousand  people,  and  a  little 
port  where  passing  steamers  touch.  From  every- 
where, the  island  is  dominated  by  the  massive 
Epomeo,  rising  almost  perpendicularly  on  the  north- 
ern side,  but  falling  off  more  gently  on  the  other 
slopes.  Hewn  in  the  volcanic  tufa  rock  of  the  sum- 
mit is  the  Hermitage  of  San  Nicola,  and  from  a 
Belvedere,  on  the  pinnacle  of  the  mountain,  there  is 
a  superb  view  over  the  blue  Mediterranean,  and  the 
Italian  coast  bordering  the  Gulfs  of  Gaeta  and  Na- 
ples, with  their  background  of  noble  mountains,  Ve- 
suvius smoking  in  the  distance. 

CAPBI. 

Off  the  southeastern  verge  of  the  Gulf  of  Naples, 
beyond  the  bold  Point  of  Campanella,  is  another 
"  island  of  goats,"  the  ancient  Capreoe,  which  came 
in  time  to  be  called  Capri  the  "  Isle  of  Sirens." 
This  famous  island  is  not  very  far  from  the  main- 
land, and  in  the  approaching  view,  it  appears  as  a 
cluster  of  dark  mountain  summits.  It  is  of  most 
picturesque  outline,  bounded  by  imposing  and  often 


468  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

fantastic  coast  cliffs,  and  covers  barely  six  square 
miles  of  surface.  This  mountain  mass  is  so  well  en- 
closed, that  at  only  two  places  can  boats  land  tne 
visitors,  while  on  the  eastern  side  the  huge  cliffs  rise 
nearly  a  thousand  feet,  almost  vertically  from  the 
sea,  and  the  rugged  island  culminates  toward  the 
west,  in  the  summit  o£  Monte  Solaro,  elevated  1,920 
feet.  From  the  landing  place  up  to  the  town  of 
Capri,  on  the  eastern  side,  is  a  climb  by  devious  paths 
among  the  rocky  precipices,  while  to  the  other  vil- 
lage near  the  western  side  —  Anacapri  —  the  route 
is  steeper  still,  the  road  winding  through  the  defiles, 
and  displaying  gorgeous  scenery.  There  are  about 
six  thousand  inhabitants  of  this  most  attractive 
island,  of  which  Capri  and  Anacapri  are  the  chief 
villages,  and  in  recent  years  it  has  become  a  popular 
resort  of  tourists,  one  of  whom  however  has  written 
that  "  the  industries  of  Capri  are  fishing,  especially 
for  coral,  vine-dressing,  and  begging  —  the  last  be- 
ing pursued  with  great  diligence."  It  was  the  sum- 
mer and  winter  retreat  of  the  Roman  Emperors,  Au- 
gustus and  Tiberius,  who  lived  here  in  every  luxury 
and  indulgence,  the  latter  especially  practicing  the 
most  frightful  cruelties  and  excesses,  and  here  were 
sown  the  early  seeds  that  produced  the  conditions 
leading  to  the  decline  of  the  great  Roman  Empire. 
Capri  came  under  historical  notice  in  the  reign  of 
Augustus,  who  made  it  his  favorite  retreat,  construct- 
ing palaces,  baths  and  various  public  works.  He 


CAPRI  469 

first  visited  the  island  29  B.  C.,  when  he  was  about 
thirty-three  years  old,  and  he  died  in  the  year  14 
A.  D.  Tiberius,  who  was  born  42  B.  C.,  was  his 
stepson,  and  was  made  heir  and  successor,  becoming 
Emperor  when  fifty-six  years  old.  He  made  Capri 
his  favorite  abode,  building  here  twelve  villas,  in 
honor  of  twelve  of  the  Roman  deities,  the  greatest 
being  the  Villa  Jovis.  In  the  year  27  A.  D.  he 
finally  retired  permanently  to  Capri,  where  he  lived 
for  ten  years  until  his  death  in  March,  37,  at  the 
age  of  seventy-nine.  Much  of  the  structures  reared 
by  these  Emperors  still  exist.  Capri  became,  in  the 
time  of  Tiberius,  the  scene  of  the  most  horrid  ex- 
cesses and  debauchery,  and  his  favorite  Sejanus,  who 
induced  him  to  give  himself  up  to  a  life  of  sensual 
pleasures,  and  held  the  reigns  of  government  at  Rome 
during  his  retirement,  did  not  hesitate  to  incite  in 
his  half -crazed  master,  the  worst  cruelties  and  licen- 
tiousness. Tiberius  became  the  most  wretched  of 
men,  suffering  all  the  torments  of  excessive  dissipa- 
tion. Finally,  he  found  that  Sejanus  was  plotting 
to  become  Emperor,  and  got  the  Senate  to  have  him 
killed  by  strangulation  A.  D.  31,  the  populace  tear- 
ing his  body  to  pieces.  When  Tiberius  came  to 
death  himself,  bent  double  and  inflicted  with  a 
myriad  ills,  the  people  hailed  their  deliverance  with 
delight.  During  his  reign  Christ  was  crucified  at 
Jerusalem,  and  this  has  always  been  regarded  as 
bringing  a  judgment  on  Tiberius.  High  above  the 


470  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

water,  on  the  northeastern  cliffs,  are  the  ruins  of  the 
villa  where  he  lived,  and  the  legend  is  that  from  the 
brink  of  a  neighboring  precipice,  the  tyrant  hurled 
his  victims  into  the  sea. 

The  usual  landing  place  is  at  the  beach  of  the 
Marina  Grande,  in  a  small  bay  on  the  northern  shore, 
and  from  here  the  steep  routes  ascend  to  Capri  and 
Anacapri.  About  half  the  population  live  in  Capri, 
which  is  the  capital,  and  is  at  nearly  five  hundred 
feet  elevation.  Hills  surmounted  by  ruins  surround 
the  village,  on  one  of  which  is  the  old  castle,  the 
Castiglione,  which  was  the  defensive  fortress  in  the 
middle  ages.  The  jutting  northeastern  promontory 
was  the  site  of  the  Villa  Jovis,  and  is  known  as  the 
Capo,  and  here  is  the  bold  rock  elevated  745  feet, 
the  Salto  di  Tiberio,  from  which  the  legend  says 
Tiberius  threw  his  victims.  There  is  now  a  plat- 
form on  its  summit,  with  a  railing,  from  which  a 
stone  may  be  dropped  into  the  water  far  below. 
Alongside  are  remains  of  the  ancient  lighthouse, 
which  was  the  beacon  on  the  cape.  There  are  ex- 
tensive ruins  of  the  villa,  mostly  vaulted  corridors 
and  chambers,  used  as  stables  for  cattle,  and  on  the 
highest  point,  a  small  chapel  with  a  hermit's  cell, 
there  being  an  admirable  view  across  the  blue  sea  to 
the  barren  rocky  Point  of  Campanella,  and  the  coasts 
of  Italy  with  their  noble  mountain  background. 
The  limestone  rocks,  forming  the  cliff  walls  enclosing 
the  island,  have  been  here  worked  out  by  the  water 


Capri,  the  Landing  Place. 


CAPRI  471 

into  arches  and  grottoes,  and  down  by  the  waterside 
is  the  Grotto  of  Mitromania,  which  was  the  famous 
shrine  of  Mithras,  "  the  god  of  the  sun,"  worshipped 
throughout  the  Roman  empire  during  the  time  of  the 
later  Emperors.  Turning  inland,  the  route  to  Ana- 
capri  mounts  to  higher  elevations  in  its  elaborate 
windings,  constantly  disclosing  beautiful  views. 
Over  it  frown  the  ruins  of  the  medieval  Castle  of 
Barbarossa,  which  has  been  named  after  the  Barbary 
pirates,  who  destroyed  it  in  the  sixteenth  century. 
Besides  this  winding  road,  an  ancient  flight  of  about 
seven  hundred  steps  leads  up  to  Anacapri,  where  live 
most  of  the  other  inhabitants  of  the  island.  This 
village  is  scattered  over  a  comparatively  level  plateau, 
sloping  toward  the  west,  at  nearly  900  feet  elevation. 
To  the  southward  rises  the  highest  surface  of  the 
island,  culminating  in  Monte  Solaro,  which  ascends 
abruptly  from  the  southern  sea,  its  summit  crowned 
by  a  ruined  castle.  Here  is  a  magnificent  view  all 
around  the  horizon,  with  sea  and  land  spreading 
away  in  all  directions,  the  Italian  Campagna  being 
enclosed  in  the  distance  by  the  grand  background  of 
the  Apennines. 

The  prevalent  limestone  rocks  of  Capri  have  been 
worn  by  the  sea  and  weather  into  the  strangest  forms, 
so  that  gorges  and  caves  are  numerous.  All  around 
the  precipitous  coasts  are  splendid  rock  formations, 
and  there  are  grottoes  in  white,  yellow,  green  and 
blue,  the  most  famous  being  the  Grotta  Azzurra,  or 


472  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

"  Blue  Grotto,"  on  the  northern  coast  about  a  mile 
westward  from  the  Marina  Grande.  It  is  a  beauti- 
ful voyage  by  boat  along  the  bases  of  the  precipitous 
rocks,  passing  the  practically  submerged  ruins  of 
the  Baths  of  Tiberius.  The  entrance  to  the  cave  is 
barely  three  feet  in  height  above  the  water,  but 
within,  the  roof  rises  to  over  forty  feet  in  height,  and 
the  cave  is  a  hundred  feet  wide  and  nearly  two  hun- 
dred feet  long.  This  grotto  is  said  to  have  been 
connected  with  one  of  the  villas  of  Tiberius  by  a 
passage  through  the  rocks,  but  the  grotto  seems  to 
have  been  entirely  forgotten  during  the  middle  ages, 
and  was  not  rediscovered  until  1826.  The  low  and 
narrow  gateway  passed,  the  visitor  is  in  a  fairy  hall. 
The  daylight  is  excluded  from  everywhere,  excepting 
by  the  illumination  refracted  through  the  small  open- 
ing, the  light  being  internally  reflected  from  the  very 
clear  waters.  The  effect  of  the  blue  refraction  of 
the  light  is  most  exquisite,  and  at  first  the  eye  is 
completely  dazzled.  Everything  is  tinged  with  sil- 
ver and  blue.  Sapphire  lights  twinkle  from  the 
rocky  roof,  and  go  glancing  down  into  the  watery 
depths.  A  stone  thrown  in  makes  myriads  of  bril- 
liant blue  bubbles.  The  dripping  oar  becomes  a 
blade  of  frosted  silver  tinged  with  blue.  A  boy 
jumps  into  the  water  for  a  small  fee,  and  he  is  at 
once  encased  in  the  most  gorgeous  suit  of  blue  and 
silver  armor,  set  with  brilliant  jewels.  The  boatmen 
row  the  visitor  all  around  the  island,  and  to  other 


CAPRI  473 

grottoes,  among  them  the  "  Green  Grotto  "  in  the 
base  of  the  towering  Monte  Solaro,  displaying  simi- 
lar gorgeous  views  in  brilliant  emerald  green.  The 
cliffs  are  noble,  many  of  them  wrought  into  inter- 
esting forms,  and  among  the  most  majestic  are  the 
Foraglioni,  near  the  town  of  Capri,  where  the  central 
cliff  has  a  grand  archway  through  which  the  boat 
passes.  But  the  "  Blue  Grotto  "  is  the  gem  of  the 
much  admired  island,  and  William  Gibson  thus  sings 
its  praises: 

Many  an  arched  roof  is  bent 

Over  the  wave, 

But  none  like  thine,  from  the  firmament 
To  the  shells  that  at  thy  threshold  lave. 
What  name  shall  shadow  thy  rich  blue  sheen  — 
Violet,   sapphire,   or   ultramarine  — 

Beautiful  cave? 

Blue  —  all  blue  —  may  we  not  compare  it 

With  Heaven's  hue, 

With  the  pearl  shell,  with  burning  spirit, 
Or  with  aught  that  is  azure  too? 
No!   for  in  ghostly  realms  alone 
Is  the  like  of  thy  lustre  shown  — 

Cave  of  blue! 


CAMPANIA 


VII 
CAMPANIA 

Gulf  of  Salerno — Paestum — Salerno — Monte  St.  Angelo — 
Amalfi — Capri — Campanella — Bay  of  Naples — Portici — Re- 
sina — Herculaneum — Torre  del  Greco — Castellammare — Sta- 
bise — Meta — Sorrento — Cape  of  Minerva — Phlegrsean  Fields 
— Pozzuoli — The  Solfatara — Monte  Niiovo — Lucrine  Lake — 
Lake  Avernus — Cumse — Baia — Cape  Miseno — Ischia — Par- 
thenope — Naples — Grotto  of  Posilipo — Virgil's  Tomb — St. 
Januarius — Vesuvius — Pompeii — Byron's  Invocation  to  Italy. 

THE    GULF    OF    SALERNO. 

The  approach  to  the  bay  of  Naples,  of  which 
Ischia  and  Capri  are  the  outer  guardians,  is  beauti- 
ful. This  is  Campania,  its  coast  strikingly  bold  and 
rocky,  being  carved  into  deep  bays  guarded  by  noble 
headlands,  and  dotted  with  historic  places.  The 
hilly  Campanian  district,  including  Salerno  and 
Naples,  is  largely  volcanic,  extremely  fertile,  and  has 
a  most  equable  climate,  the  people  being  so  proud  of 
its  attractions,  that  they  call  it  Campagna  felice. 
On  the  shore  of  the  Salerno  Gulf,  are  the  remains 
of  Psestum,  now  called  Pesto,  the  Greek  city  of  the 
sixth  century  B.  C.,  which  the  Romans  extolled  for 
its  rose  gardens,  none  now  existing  however.  But 
amid  the  ruins,  still  grow  wild  some  of  the  famous 
477 


478  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

Paestum  roses,  rich  in  perfume,  and  blooming  twice 
a  year.  This  was  the  ancient  Poseidonia,  the  city 
of  Poseidon  or  Neptune,  on  the  border  between  Cam- 
pania and  Lucania.  The  Moslems  destroyed  it  in 
the  ninth  century,  and  it  afterward  fell  into  decay, 
the  locality  being  malarious,  and  the  green  plain 
along  the  sea  was  almost  entirely  abandoned.  There 
remain,  however,  the  massive  Doric  temples,  which 
are  regarded  as  the  best  survivals  of  Greek  archi- 
tecture outside  of  Athens.  These  are  the  Temple 
of  Neptune,  190  feet  long,  with  thirty-six  massive 
columns,  28  feet  high  and  over  seven  feet  in  diame- 
ter; the  Basilica,  180  feet  long  and  having  fifty 
columns;  and  the  smaller  Temple  of  Ceres,  105  feet 
long,  with  thirty-four  columns.  There  are  extensive 
and  well-preserved  ruins  of  towers  and  walls,  enclos- 
ing a  space  about  three  miles  in  circuit,  one  of  the 
tower  gateways,  fifty  feet  high,  being  almost  per- 
fect, and  all  about  are  indications  of  this  great  city 
of  the  Greeks. 

At  the  head  of  the  Gulf,  and  rising  steeply  on  the 
hill  slopes  is  the  old  town  of  Salerno,  the  ancient 
Salernum,  also  a  Greek  settlement,  famous  in  the 
middle  ages  as  the  greatest  medieval  school  in  Eu- 
rope, but  now  depending,  for  its  chief  celebrity,  upon 
its  venerable  Cathedral  of  St.  Matthew,  built  in  the 
eleventh  century  by  the  Normans,  and  the  tradition 
says,  on  the  spot  where  his  remains  were  interred, 


Amalfi. 


THE  GULF  OF  SALERNO  479 

after  having  been  brought  here  from  the  East  in  the 
year  930.  This  is  a  region  of  limestone  cliffs,  and 
the  white  houses  of  Salerno  are  gathered  along  the 
shore  and  slopes,  overlooked  by  the  gray  old  castle  of 
the  Lombards,  crowning  the  projecting  ridge,  at  900 
feet  elevation.  These  hills  sweep  around  southward 
in  graceful  outline,  far  away  to  the  Point  of  Licosa, 
blue  in  the  distance,  beyond  the  green  plain  of  Pses- 
tum.  The  ruins  of  this  ancient  city  were  freely 
drawn  upon  for  materials  for  the  Salerno  Cathedral, 
its  front  having  an  atrium  surrounded  by  twenty- 
eight  antique  columns,  while  there  are  many  vener- 
able sarcophagi,  which  originally  held  the  corpses  of 
noble  Romans  and  Greeks  of  Psestum,  but  were 
brought  into  the  cathedral,  with  their  pagan  orna- 
mentation unchanged,  for  the  later  burial  of  promi- 
nent Christian  counts  and  prelates. 

The  northern  verge  of  the  Gulf  of  Salerno,  is  the 
long  and  elevated  ridge  of  Monte  St.  Angelo,  the 
Sorrento  peninsula,  extending  westward  to  the 
abrupt  promontory  of  Point  Campanella,  beyond 
which  is  the  beautiful  island  of  Capri.  The  sum- 
mit of  St.  Angelo  is  the  most  elevated  height  around 
the  Gulf.  Along  the  face  of  the  limestone  cliffs 
is  constructed  a  wonderful  road,  which  can  be  traced 
from  Salerno  out  almost  to  the  Point,  hewn  in  the 
rock,  supported  by  galleries  and  going  over  airy 
viaducts,  now  up,  now  down,  cut  out  of  the  cream- 


480  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

colored  limestone,  covered  by  shrubbery  in  places, 
and  having  dotted  along  it,  here  and  there,  pictur- 
esque white  villages  of  flat-roofed  houses,  perched 
among  the  crags,  and  apparently  guarded  by  the  old 
time  martello  towers,  once  used  on  these  coasts  as  a 
protection  from  pirates.  Upon  this  road,  about  mid- 
way between  Salerno  and  the  Point,  is  the  famous 
haunt  of  artists,  Amalfi.  A  deep  ravine  opens  out 
to  the  sea,  rocks  rise  precipitously  on  either  hand, 
and  the  little  town,  wedged  into  the  gorge,  also  runs 
up  the  cliffs,  and  stretches  out  over  a  diminutive 
beach  in  front,  where  in  times  past,  a  good  deal  of 
the  place  stood,  but  has  been  engulfed  and  washed 
into  the  sea.  Narrow  paths  are  hewn  into  the  face 
of  the  rocks,  sometimes  supported  on  arches,  and 
terraces  are  built  up  in  walls  to  give  a  chance  to 
plant  the  vine,  the  orange  and  the  lemon.  On  top 
of  all,  from  a  prominent  crag,  an  old  round  tower 
looks  out  over  the  water.  A  stream  rushes  down 
the  ravine,  receiving  little  brooks  from  either  side, 
and  here  are  numerous  old  mills  that  make  paper, 
while  the  people  also  manufacture  macaroni  and 
soaps.  In  a  superb  situation  on  the  hill,  at  230  feet 
elevation,  with  a  grand  outlook,  is  the  old  Capuchin 
monastery,  now  used  as  a  hotel.  Paestum  has  con- 
tributed building  materials  here  also,  and  there  are 
Roman  sarcophagi  and  columns  in  the  Cathedral  of 
St.  Andrew,  where  they  are  said  to  have  in  the  crypt 
the  body  of  the  apostle,  which  was  brought  from  Con- 


THE  MAGNIFICENT  BAY  481 

stantinople  in  the  thirteenth  century.  Everywhere 
are  gems  of  scenery  that  attract  the  artists  from  all 
over  the  world. 

THE    MAGNIFICENT    BAY. 

The  approaching  steamer  crosses  the  wide  Gulf  of 
Salerno,  and  heads  for  the  strait,  through  the  open- 
ing broken  down  between  the  bold  promontory  of 
Campanella  and  Capri  beyond.  This  high  and 
rocky  island  has  the  brilliant  morning  sunlight  shin- 
ing upon  its  steep  shore,  up  which  the  zigzag  road 
runs  between  the  villages  at  base  and  summit.  The 
steamer  sails  between  the  island  and  the  mainland 
and  then  the  beautiful  Bay  of  Naples  is  opened, 
with  that  noted  city  on  its  distant  northern  shore, 
and  \7esuvius  with  the  rising  smoke  column  far  off 
to  the  northeastward.  This  renowned  bay,  one  of 
the  most  beautiful  existing,  is  twenty  miles  across, 
having  the  outlying  islands  of  Capri  and  Ischia  l 
guarding  its  extremities,  and  is  surrounded  by  a 
magnificent  girdle  of  mountains,  being  indented 
fully  fifteen  miles  into  the  Campania  coast.  As  the 
steamer  glides  northward  over  the  bright  blue  waters, 
the  grand  semicircular  sweep  of  the  enclosing  moun- 
tains is  impressive.  Off  to  the  northeast,  in  the  mid- 
dle of  the  semicircle,  and  the  dominant  feature  of  the 
splendid  scene,  is  the  double  cone  of  Vesuvius, 

i  The  islands  of  Capri  and  Ischia  are  described  in  the  pre- 
ceding chapter  on  "  Islands  of  the  Sea." 
VOL.  1—31 


482  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

backed  by  the  distant  snowy  summits  of  the  Ap- 
ennines. From  the  level  plain  to  the  right  of  Ve- 
suvius, there  extends  grandly  out  southwestward,  the 
projecting  rocky  limestone  peninsula  of  Sorrento, 
with  majestic  Monte  St.  Angelo  its  culminating 
summit,  the  ridge  descending  abruptly  to  the  bold 
headland  of  Campanella  that  has  just  been  passed. 
At  the  base  of  the  cliffs,  along  the  bay,  and  in  their 
gorges,  nestle  a  group  of  villages,  prominent  among 
them  being  Castellammare,  Meta  and  Sorrento.  To 
the  westward  of  Vesuvius,  there  spreads  a  series  of 
hills,  having  part  of  Naples  built  on  their  spurs,  but 
they  appear  totally  different  from  the  limestone 
formation  to  the  southward,  being  a  series  of  long 
curving  ridges  and  low  flat-topped  cones.  These  ex- 
tend to  the  volcano  of  Monte  Nuovo,  over  near  the 
sea,  and  terminate  in  the  bold  headland  guarding 
the  northwestern  verge  of  the  bay,  beyond  which  is 
Ischia  with  its  grand  Monte  Epomeo.  This  group 
of  volcanic  hills  forms  the  famous  Phlegraan  fields 
of  the  ancients. 

As  the  steamer  swiftly  moves  northward  over  the 
water,  there  gradually  develops  with  the  nearer  view 
.ahead,  a  white  mass  looking  much  like  a  spacious 
.marble  quarry,  having  a  long  low  white  line  running 
off  southeastward  to  the  base  of  Vesuvius.  This, 
on  approaching,  gradually  dissolves  into  Naples,  and 
on  the  right  hand  side,  into  the  almost  continuous 
line  of  villages  extending  along  the  curving  shore  be- 


THE  MAGNIFICENT  BAY  483 

tween  Vesuvius  and  the  sea,  which  various  eruptions 
and  destructions  have  made  familiar  to  the  world, 
in  the  names  of  Pbrtici,  Resina  and  Torre  del  Greco. 
The  white  mass  of  the  city,  stretching  from  the 
water's  edge  up  the  slope,  culminates  in  the  Castle 
of  St.  Elmo,  crowning  the  ridge  overlooking  Naples, 
and  a  striking  object  in  the  scene.  But  the  dominant 
feature  of  all  is  Vesuvius,  its  lower  slopes  a  rich 
carpet  of  gardens  and  foliage,  having  high  above  the 
gray  and  broken  encircling  cliffs  of  Monte  Somma, 
and  the  loftier  cone  of  ashes  upholding  the  crater, 
from  which  rises  the  steam  and  smoke  cloud  blown 
away  slowly  by  the  wind.  Creeping  down  the  flanks 
of  the  mountain  are  dark  stains  that  spread  out  in 
deep  purple  amid  the  verdure  below,  the  lava  torrents 
which  in  past  times  have  overwhelmed  the  stricken 
villages.  This  grand  bay  of  Naples  presents  one  of 
the  most  gorgeous  views  in  Europe,  and  it  is  no  won- 
der that  the  enthusiastic  sons  of  Italy,  beholding  it, 
made  the  proverb  which  has  become  one  of  the  city's 
mottoes,  Vedi  Napoli  e  poi  mori! — "See  Naples  and 
then  die." 

The  villages  that  fringe  this  splendid  bay  are  in- 
teresting. Portici  is  the  railway  station  for  Resina 
near  by,  which  is  built  over  the  lava  beds  and  scoria 
that  in  the  first  century  of  our  era  engulfed  Hercu- 
laneum.  This  was  the  Grecian  Heracleia,  said  to 
have  been  founded  by  Hercules.  It  became  a  favo- 
rite site  for  the  villas  of  wealthy  Romans  and  was 


484  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

totally  destroyed  by  the  first  eruption  of  Vesuvius 
in  the  year  79.  Subsequent  eruptions  buried  it  to 
a  depth  in  some  parts  of  one  hundred  feet  of  lava  and 
ashes.  In  1719,  the  sinking  of  a  well  revealed  the 
site  of  the  ancient  theatre,  about  eighty-five  feet  be- 
low the  surface.  Extensive  excavations  have  since 
been  made  with  interesting  results,  and  many  relics 
were  removed  to  the  museum  in  Naples.  The  ex- 
cavations were  renewed  in  1907,  under  the  auspices 
of  the  Italian  and  other  governments,  upon  a  plan 
involving  the  purchase  of  the  surmounting  buildings 
of  Resin  a,  so  that  the  whole  ancient  city  may  be 
ultimately  uncovered.  Herculaneum  was  alongside 
the  sea  originally,  but  the  later  lava  streams  have  ex- 
tended the  shore  line.  It  is  exactly  in  front  of  Ve- 
suvius. The  railway  train  moving  beyond  it,  crosses 
the  great  lava  stream  of  1794,  about  a  half  mile  wide 
and  forty  feet  thick,  and  comes  to  Torre  del  Greco, 
which  is  built  upon  the  earlier  lava  streams  of  1631, 
that  destroyed  the  greater  part  of  the  older  town. 
The  eruptions  in  1737,  1794  and  1861  greatly  dam- 
aged the  place,  and  it  was  rudely  shaken  by  an  earth- 
quake in  1857.  The  showers  of  ashes,  the  flow  of 
lava,  the  upheaval  of  the  ground,  and  the  fissures 
that  opened,  did  their  destructive  work,  but  could 
not  frighten  the  people  away,  as  they  always  returned 
and  rebuilt  their  houses.  The  vast  mass  of  Vesuvius 
overhangs  the  village,  its  entire  base  being  covered 
by  the  marks  left  from  these  catastrophes. 


THE  MAGNIFICENT  BAY  485 

Beyond,  stretches  southeastward  the  splendid 
peninsula  of  Sorrento,  indented  by  various  bays,  the 
first  being  that  of  Castellammare.  This  town  is  on 
a  spur  of  Monte  St.  Angelo,  and  is  built  over  an- 
cient Stabise,  which  was  destroyed  at  the  same  time 
as  Herculaneum  and  Pompeii.  Here  perished  the 
elder  Pliny,  while  observing  the  eruption,  being  suf- 
focated by  the  ashes  and  sulphur  fumes.  Some  exca- 
vations were  made  in  the  eighteenth  century,  but  the 
work  has  been  abandoned.  The  town,  having  over 
thirty  thousand  people,  extends  more  than  a  mile 
along  the  beautiful  curving  bay,  and  has  a  busy  har- 
bor and  a  dockyard.  The  ruins  of  the  old  thirteenth 
century  castle,  which  gave  the  place  its  name  are 
high  on  the  hill  to  the  southward.  This  is  a  fa- 
vorite summer  resort  of  the  Neapolitans,  and  the 
entire  neighboring  coast  has  many  American  and 
English  winter  visitors.  The  road  leading  beyond, 
is  carried  along  steep  rocky  slopes,  sometimes  down 
near  the  sea,  and  then  high  on  the  cliffs,  with  long 
circuits  inland,  rounding  the  deep  ravines.  High 
above  rise  the  limestone  crags,  clothed  with  olives, 
and  the  road  goes  over  the  bold  promontory  of  the 
Punta  di  Scutolo,  almost  overlying  the  sea,  having  a 
little  tower  perched  at  its  end.  Then  the  route 
descends  toward  Meta,  with  the  beautiful  Piano  di 
Sorrento  beyond,  a  luxuriant  plain  sheltered  among 
the  mountains,  a  sort  of  shelf,  sloping  gently  down 
from  the  bases  of  rugged  limestone  crags,  and  termi- 


486  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

nating  abruptly  above  the  sea,  in  steep  cliffs  of  dark 
rock.  From  its  groves  and  orchards  rise  groups  of 
pink  and  white  houses.  Far  over  the  sea  are  views 
of  the  grand  bay,  of  Capri's  rocks  and  the  distant 
mountain  of  Ischia,  with  the  smoking  crater  of  Ve- 
suvius always  in  sight.  Meta  stretches  along  the 
sand,  around  two  little  harbors,  its  Church  of  the 
Madonna  being  built  where  once  was  a  temple  of 
Minerva,  and  its  deep  ravine  incised  back  boldly 
into  the  side  of  Monte  St.  Angelo,  rising  4,735  feet 
above,  the  highest  summit  around  the  Bay  of  Naples, 
and  commanding  a  superb  view. 

Up  from  the  strip  of  beach  along  the  water,  rise 
the  old  buildings  of  Sorrento,  anchored  on  crags 
and  nestling  amid  the  rocks.  Its  hotels  are  in  gar- 
dens on  the  cliff  terraces,  and  have  private  stairs 
descending  to  the  sea  where  there  are  bathing  houses. 
This  is  ancient  Surrentum,  in  a  splendid  situation, 
and  is  called  by  the  people  La  Gentile.  Here  was 
born  the  poet  Tasso  in  1544,  and  the  public  square 
is  adorned  with  his  statue,  but  the  house  where  he 
saw  the  light  and  the  rock  on  which  it  stood,  have 
been  engulfed  by  the  sea.  The  road  beyond  goes 
out  to  the  promontory,  at  the  extremity  of  the  penin- 
sula, the  bold  rock  overgrown  with  olives  and  myrtles, 
now  crowned  by  a  lighthouse,  which  was  the  ancient 
Cape  of  Minerva^  so  called  because  Ulysses  here 
erected  a  temple  in  her  honor.  The  modern  name  of 
the  Punta  di  Campanella,  has  been  given  from  the 


The  City  and  the  Bay  of  Naples. 


THE  MAGNIFICENT  BAY  487 

bells  of  its  watch-tower,  erected  by  Charles  V  as  a 
protection  against  the  Barbary  pirates,  who  con- 
tinued their  raids  on  this  coast  until  the  early  nine- 
teenth century.  Its  western  outlook  is  upon  Capri, 
about  three  miles  away. 

Upon  the  northern  shore  of  the  Bay  of  Naples  are 
the  volcanic  Phlegrsean  Fields,  where  were  made  the 
first  Grecian  settlements  in  this  region,  the  poems 
of  Homer  and  Virgil  investing  them  with  special  in- 
terest. To  the  westward  of  Naples,  its  tall  houses 
appearing  in  various  colors,  and  clustered  on  a  steep 
headland,  is  Pozzuoli,  where  St.  Paul  on  his  journey 
to  Rome,  "  found  brethren,"  and  was  "  desired  to 
tarry  with  them  seven  days."  It  was  then  the  chief 
trading  seaport  of  Italy,  called  Puteoli,  and  the 
special  port  of  Rome,  but  it  is  dilapidated  as  well 
as  picturesque  now,  though  the  broken  masses  of 
masonry  down  in  the  water,  which  are  all  that  re- 
main of  the  piers  of  the  Mole  of  Caligula,  testify  to 
its  maritime  greatness  in  the  Roman  days.  It  is 
full  of  the  ruins  of  that  time,  and  in  the  public 
square  they  have  the  statue  of  a  Roman  senator, 
headless  when  found  in  the  ruins,  but  on  which  they 
have  ingeniously  put  another  statue's  rescued  head 
so  as  to  complete  it.  The  cathedral  occupies  the  site 
of  a  Temple  of  Augustus,  some  of  its  Corinthian 
columns  still  standing.  There  are  ruins  of  temples 
of  Serapis,  Diana  and  Neptune,  and  also  a  fine  am- 
phitheatre, which  was  excavated  in  1838.  It  was 


488  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

here  that  jSTero  had  gladiatorial  contests,  and 
Diocletian  sent  St.  Januarius  into  the  arena  to  be 
devoured  by  wild  beasts,  but  they  refused  to  rend 
him,  whereupon  he  afterward  suffered  martyrdom 
outside  the  city  gate,  and  became  the  patron  saint 
of  Naples.  All  about  this  neighborhood  are  volcanic 
craters,  and  vents  whence  steam  jets  and  mephitic 
vapors  emerge,  the  chief  being  the  Solfatara,  on  the 
edge  of  the  town,  a  crater  enclosed  by  hills  of  pumice 
stone,  and  having  various  fissures.  This  had  its  last 
eruption  in  the  twelfth  century,  but  the  volcanic 
forces  are  still  working  in  the  hollow  ground  beneath, 
and  health-seeking  patients  climb  up  to  it,  and  sit 
in  the  hot  and  bad-smelling  sulphurous  vapors,  which 
give  relief  in  cases  of  consumption  and  asthma. 
Much  of  the  ruins  of  Pozzuoli  have  been  lowered 
under  the  sea  level  by  earthquake  and  volcanic  con- 
vulsions. Here  lived  Cicero  in  the  villa  Puteolan- 
eum  and  composed  some  of  his  works,  while  Hadrian 
died  and  was  temporarily  interred  here. 

To  the  westward  rises  the  volcanic  cone  of  the 
Monte  Nuovo,  about  450  feet  high,  this  "  new  moun- 
tain," in  the  form  of  an  obtuse  cone  with  a  deep 
crater,  having  been  suddenly  upheaved  by  a  violent 
earthquake  on  September  30,  1538.  Close  by  is 
the  Lucrine  Lake,  adjoining  the  sea,  with  an  an- 
cient embankment  under  the  water,  across  which  the 
tradition  says  that  Hercules,  in  one  of  his  labors, 
bringing  the  oxen  of  Geryones  from  Erythia,  drove 


THE  MAGNIFICENT  BAY  489 

them  through  the  swamps;  while  inland  about  a 
half-mile  northward,  is  the  famous  Lake  Avernus, 
filling  an  old  crater,  embanked  by  lava  covered  hills 
and  about  two  miles  in  circumference.  The  sombre 
environment  of  this  dismal  lake,  caused  the  ancients 
to  regard  it  as  the  entrance  to  the  infernal  regions, 
and  such  were  its  mephitic  exhalations,  that  no  bird 
could  fly  across  it  and  live.  The  guides  show  now 
the  "  Grotto  of  the  Sybil,"  and  another  small  open- 
ing, which  they  say  is  the  actual  "  Entrance  to 
Avernus."  This  lake  was  connected  with  Lucrine 
by  the  Romans,  and  made  a  naval  harbor,  much  ex- 
tolled by  Virgil  and  Horace,  but  the  upheaval  of  the 
Monte  Nuovo  destroyed  all  their  work,  and  also  half 
filled  up  Lucrine  with  debris.  The  legends  tell  us 
that  this,  in  the  remote  past,  was  a  region  of  the  gods 
and  sirens  to  whom  Ulysses  came  for  counsel. 
Homer  describes  it  as  the  abode  of  the  dismal,  sunless 
Cimmerii.  Virgil  tells  how  ^Eneas  came  from  Troy 
to  visit  the  Sybil  of  Cunue,  and  descended  with  her, 
through  the  dark  groves  on  the  bank  of  Avernus,  to 
the  lower  world.  There  is  a  project  now  afoot,  to 
again  connect  these  lakes  with  the  sea,  and  establish 
shipbuilding  yards  and  docks,  for  which  purpose  a 
Belgian  syndicate  bought  the  territory  in  1908. 

Over  the  hill,  on  the  outside  of  the  peninsula,  and 
adjoining  the  sea,  are  the  remains  of  Cumae,  the 
Greek  Kyme,  the  first  settlement  on  this  coast, 
founded  in  the  eleventh  century  B.  C.  From  here 


490  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

Rome  got  the  mysterious  sibylline  books.  It  was 
an  important  seaport  at  first,  but  declined  after  the 
Romans  took  it,  and  was  destroyed  by  pirates  in  the 
thirteenth  century.  Fragments  remain  of  the  walls 
and  the  Acropolis,  the  rock  on  which  this  castle  stood 
being  perforated  with  many  passages,  leading  in 
every  direction.  This  is  believed  to  have  been  \rir- 
gil's  "  Grotto  of  the  Sibyl,"  which  had  a  hundred 
entrances,  "  whence  resound  as  many  voices,  the 
oracles  of  the  prophetess." 

To  the  southward,  the  peninsula  narrows,  and  here 
on  a  deep  indentation  of  the  bay  is  Baia,  the  ancient 
Baise,  overlooking  the  magnificent  Bay  of  Naples, 
and  in  its  day  of  greatest  prosperity  the  most  famous 
watering  place  of  Rome,  but  now  a  little  village  try- 
ing to  regain  some  importance  as  a  seaside  resort. 
Here  came  Augustus,  Nero  and  Hadrian,  and  it 
was  then  a  centre  of  the  greatest  luxury  and  profli- 
gacy. Horace  describes  in  his  first  epistle,  a  wealthy 
Roman,  who  wishes  to  build  a  splendid  villa  here, 
and  exclaims  "  Nothing  in  the  world  can  be  com- 
pared with  the  lovely  bay  of  Baia3."  A  little  way 
south  is  the  Villa  Bacoli,  on  the  coast,  where  Nero 
in  59  A.  D.  plotted  the  murder  of  his  mother  Agrip- 
pina,  a  crime  soon  carried  out  at  her  villa  on  the 
Lucrine  Lake,  and  his  tomb  was  near  the  villa  of 
Julius  Caesar  on  the  heights  above.  Beyond  is  the 
site  of  Misenum,  where  Augustus  established  his 
naval  harbor  in  connection  with  the  works  at  Lucrine 


THE  CITY  OF  NAPLES  491 

Lake,  the  town  having  long  after  been  destroyed  by 
the  Saracens.  Here  was  the  villa  of  Lucullus,  where 
Tiberius  afterward  died.  The  peninsula  ends  in  the 
promontory  of  Cape  Miseno,  an  isolated  mass  of 
tufa-rock,  rising  300  feet,  and  connected  with  the 
mainland  by  a  narrow  strip  of  coast,  stretching  be- 
tween the  sea  and  a  lake,  and  fully  a  mile  long. 
This  peculiar  rock  of  Miseno,  looking  like  an  ancient 
tumulus,  was  described  by  Virgil  in  the  ^Eneid,  as 
the  burial  place  of  the  trumpeter  Misenus,  whence 
came  the  name.  It  is  surmounted  by  a  lighthouse 
and  a  picturesque  watch-tower  of  the  olden  time,  and 
from  the  summit  has  a  grand  outlook  over  the  water 
and  the  land,  with  the  pointed  summit  of  Monte 
Epomeo  on  Ischia,  out  in  front.  Ovid  in  his  Meta- 
morphoses tells  of  the  journey  of  the  god  of  healing, 
who  came  to  Rome  through  this  charming  region. 

Minerva's  Cape  they  leave,  and  Caprese's  isle, 
Sorrentum,  on  whose  hills  the  vineyards  smile, 
The  city,  which  Alcides'  spoils  adorn, 
Naples,  for  soft  delight  and  pleasure  born, 
Fair  Stabiae,  with  Cumsean  Sibyl's  seats, 
And  Baise's  tepid  baths  and  green  retreats. 

THE    CITY    OF    NAPLES. 

After  the  ancient  Cumae  had  existed  for  some  time, 
a  Greek  colony  migrated  across  the  peninsula,  and 
founded  on  a  spur  of  the  hill  of  St.  Elmo,  a  new 
settlement,  called,  according  to  Pliny,  Parthenope, 
after  the  tomb  of  a  Cumsean  siren  of  that  name. 


492  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

This  colony,  receiving  accessions  from  Greece,  and 
spreading  in  the  progress  of  years,  came  to  be  known 
as  Neapolis  or  the  "  new  city,"  while  the  original 
settlement  was  called  Pateopolis,  or  the  "  old  city." 
Thus  began  the  name  of  Naples,  the  population  con- 
tinually enlarging  by  further  arrivals  from  Greece. 
The  Eomans  conquered  it,  in  the  fourth  century  B. 
C.,  and  its  attractiveness  drew  many  of  the  Roman 
magnates  hither.  Lucullus  possessed  gardens,  where 
the  city  is  now  built,  and  in  them  in  the  year  476  A. 
D.,  died  Romulus  Augustulus,  the  last  feeble  mon- 
arch of  the  Western  Roman  empire.  All  the  Roman 
emperors  were  residents,  and  most  of  them  bene- 
factors of  the  city,  while  Virgil  lived  in  the  suburbs, 
completing  here  some  of  his  last  works.  In  the 
fifth  century  of  our  era,  the  barbarians  attacked  and 
devastated  the  town;  it  fell  before  Belisarius;  and 
the  Goths  also  took  it  by  storm.  Then  it  became 
independent,  and  was  ruled  by  its  own  Dukes  for 
several  centuries,  until  captured  in  1130,  after  a 
long  siege,  by  the  Norman  Roger.  Charles  of  An- 
jou  made  it  the  capital  of  his  kingdom,  it  afterward 
fell  to  Ferdinand  of  Aragon,  was  ruled  in  the  six- 
teenth century  by  Don  Pedro  of  Toledo  as  viceroy, 
and  in  the  eighteenth  century  it  came  to  the  Bourbons. 
All  these  princes  greatly  extended  and  embellished 
the  city.  Resisting  the  despotic  control  of  Ferdi- 
nand (Bomba),  in  the  nineteenth  century,  it  re- 
belled under  Garibaldian  inspiration.  Bomba  was 


THE  CITY  OF  NAPLES  493 

overthrown,  and  Naples  was  annexed  to  the  newly 
formed  kingdom,  of  Italy.  The  population  is  about 
a  half  million,  its  antiquities  are  few,  but  it  retains 
several  picturesque  castles  of  the  middle  ages. 

The  landing,  after  crossing  the  beautiful  Bay  of 
Naples,  and  passing  the  fine  lighthouse  on  the  Molo, 
the  latter  dating  from  1302,  produces  a  sad  disap- 
pointment. The  city  has  little  attraction  in  the 
lower  districts,  and  the  noisy  and  wrangling  boat- 
men, put  the  visitor  ashore  at  a  poor  little  quay,  sur- 
rounded by  dirty  streets  and  squalid  quarters,  with 
squabbling  porters  and  cab  drivers,  numerous  beg- 
gars and  a  scene  of  wretchedness,  noise  and  general 
demoralization,  which  for  the  moment,  gives  a  more 
serious  meaning  to  the  proverb :  "  See  Naples  and 
then  die."  Most  of  the  people  seem  to  live  in  the 
streets.  The  view  after  landing  is  not  very  satis- 
factory. The  Castle  of  St.  Elmo  was  impressive  on 
the  approach,  and  there  was  a  picturesque  flavor  in 
the  quaint  Castello  dell'  Ovo,  so  called  from  the  oval 
shape  of  the  rock  on  which  this  old-fashioned  fort 
rises  from  the  sea  to  defend  the  dockyard  in  front  of 
the  town.  But  the  houses  themselves  are  generally 
uninteresting,  and  to  an  extent  monotonous  in  out- 
line, being  mostly  oblong  constructions  of  masonry, 
with  flat  roofs,  excepting  where  an  occasional  low 
dome  may  rise,  giving  a  slightly  oriental  aspect. 
There  appear  only  a  few  towers,  high  domes  or 
steeples  rising  above  the  general  level. 


494  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

The  Castello  dell'  Ovo  was  begun  in  the  twelfth 
century,  but  was  practically  completed  in  its  present 
form,  by  the  viceroy  Don  Pedro  of  Toledo,  about 
the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century,  and  is  now  a 
barrack.  The  small  rocky  island  on  which  it  stands, 
to  the  left  of  the  harbor,  was  the  Megaris  of  Pliny, 
and  is  the  outlier  of  a  range  of  hills,  dividing  Naples 
into  two  unequal  portions.  The  Pizzofalcone  hill, 
on  which  was  the  Palseopolis,  rises  behind  this  island, 
and  from  it  the  ridge  ascends  northeastward,  into 
the  heights  of  St.  Elmo,  elevated  875  feet  above  the 
sea,  where  is  the  impregnable  fortress  of  the 
Castello  Sant'  Elmo,  built  by  the  Normans  and 
their  successors,  and  now  a  military  prison.  Funic- 
ular railways  ascend  the  hill  slope  to  it  from  the 
lower  town.  Thence  northward,  the  surface  further 
rises  to  the  eminence  of  Capidomonte,  where,  in  an 
attractive  garden,  is  a  Royal  Palace,  which  is  now 
a  museum  of  paintings,  porcelains  and  ancient 
armor,  and  on  this  elevation  are  the  water  reservoirs 
for  the  city,  while  the  summit  is  crowned  by  an 
astronomical  observatory.  Here  was  the  Royal 
Porcelain  factory  established  by  Charles  III  in  the 
eighteenth  century,  which  was  abandoned  in  1820. 
The  hills  rise  higher  toward  the  northwest,  and  there, 
at  1,500  feet  elevation,  is  the  old  monastery  of 
Camaldoli,  giving  the  most  charming  outlook  near 
Naples.  The  city,  which  fronts  for  about  three 
miles  on  the  bay,  and  spreads  inland  northward  for 


THE  CITY  OF  NAPLES  495 

two  miles,  6>er  the  plain  and  the  hills,  is  thus 
divided  into  a  higher  and  a  lower  town.  To  the 
eastward  of  the  ridge  of  hills,  and  on  the  lower 
ground,  is  the  greater  part  of  old  Naples,  while  the 
newer  part  is  on  the  western  hills  and  their  slopes, 
facing  the  bay  to  the  southward.  In  the  older  town, 
a  large  population  is  closely  crowded,  and  the  nar- 
_row  streets  are  lined  with  very  high  buildings,  that 
are  tenement  houses,  with  families  on  every  floor  and 
in  almost  every  room.  The  children  swarm  the 
streets  below,  and  the  goats,  that  are  the  property 
of  the  people,  wander  about  at  will,  and  are  ac- 
customed to  going  up  stairs  in  these  tenements  to 
be  milked,  sometimes  to  the  sixth  or  seventh  story, 
and  the  clatter  of  the  hoofs  upon  the  stairs,  the 
Neapolitans  say,  is  quite  musical. 

Along  the  eastern  bases  of  these  hills,  is  the  chief 
street  of  Naples,  the  Toledo,  running  from  the  har- 
bor northward  to  the  heights  of  Capidomonte.  This 
street  has  various  names,  and  is  the  main  artery 
of  traffic,  always  presenting  a  busy  scene.  Its  con- 
struction was  begun  in  1540  by  Don  Pedro  of 
Toledo,  but  since  the  unification  of  Italy,  it  has 
been  officially  named  the  Via  Roma.  Midway  in 
its  course  is  the  great  National  Museum  of  Naples, 
where  are  collected  the  archaeological  relics  of  Her- 
culaneum,  Pompeii  and  other  places,  besides  a  vast 
number  of  treasures  from  Rome  and  elsewhere 
throughout  Italy.  Down  near  the  shore  there  goes 


496  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

westward  from  the  Via  Roma  the  broad  carriage 
road  and  promenade  of  the  Chiaja,  in  front  of  which 
is  the  spacious  and  tasteful  pleasure  ground  of  the 
Villa  Nazionale,  facing  the  sea.  Near  the  centre 
of  this  stands  the  large  white  building  of  the  famous 
Aquarium,  one  of  the  best  in  the  world.  Back  on 
the  hill  slopes  are  villas  and  hotels,  having  a  grand 
outlook  over  the  splendid  bay.  To  the  westward  of 
this  district,  the  rocky  ridge  again  projects  to  the 
shore  in  the  bold  promontory  of  the  Mergellina, 
through  which  is  excavated  a  tunnel,  a  half  mile 
long,  called  the  Grotto  of  Posilipo.  This  passage 
has  existed  since  the  time  of  Augustus,  having  been 
mentioned  by  Seneca,  in  the  reign  of  Nero,  as  a 
narrow  and  gloomy  pass,  and  being  viewed  with 
superstitious  awe  in  the  middle  ages,  as  having  been 
constructed  through  the  agency  of  magical  incanta- 
tions by  Virgil.  Various  sovereigns  have  improved 
it,  and  now  it  is  forty  feet  wide  and  as  high,  the 
eastern  entrance  facing  the  city  being  much  higher, 
and  it  is  used  by  the  railway  and  main  road  to 
Pozzuoli.  Everything  going  through  the  tunnel 
makes  a  deafening  noise,  and  it  seems  to  delight  the 
Neapolitans  greatly,  to  beguile  their  passage  within 
this  cavern,  by  unearthly  yells  and  bowlings  to 
awaken  the  echoes.  In  a  vineyard  on  the  rock 
above  is  the  enclosure  called  the  "  Tomb  of  Virgil," 
who  died  at  Brundusium  in  B.  C.  19,  while  return- 
ing from  a  visit  to  Greece,  when  he  expressed  the 


THE  CITY  OF  NAPLES  497 

wish  to  be  buried  here,  where  he  had  lived  and  com- 
posed his  works.  Petrarch  planted  a  laurel,  and 
the  tomb  was  in  good  preservation  as  late  as  the 
fourteenth  century,  but  has  entirely  disappeared. 
It  was  described  then  as  containing  an  urn  sur- 
rounded by  nine  small  pillars. 

The  shore  of  the  bay  of  Naples  turns  northeast- 
ward on  the  eastern  side  of  the  Castello  dell'  Ovo, 
and  here  are  the  arsenal,  dockyard  and  harbor  of 
the  port.  This  was  formerly  guarded  by  the  Castel 
Nuovo,  a  massive  work  begun  by  Charles  of  Anjou 
in  the  thirteenth  century,  and  subsequently  enlarged, 
the  outer  walls  and  bastions  having  been  removed 
in  later  years.  This  castle  was,  for  a  long  time, 
the  residence  of  the  sovereigns  of  Naples.  The  en- 
trance to  the  castle  is  through  a  lofty  triumphal  arch, 
regarded  as  the  finest  monument  in  the  city,  a 
Corinthian  gateway  erected  in  the  fifteenth  century, 
to  commemorate  the  entry  of  Alfonso  I  of  Aragon 
on  June  2,  1442.  Since  the  early  seventeenth 
century,  the  sovereigns  of  Naples  have  resided  in 
the  newer  Royal  Palace,  which  adjoins  the  castle 
enclosure  on  the  southwest,  and  overlooks  the 
arsenal  alongside  the  harbor  below.  The  splendid 
fagade  of  this  palace  extends  nearly  six  hundred  feet, 
and  in  its  three  stories  of  colonnades  displays  the 
Doric,  Ionic  and  Corinthian  architecture.  Eight 
marble  statues,  in  niches,  represent  the  Neapolitan 

dynasties  for  eight  centuries,  beginning  with  Roger 
VOL.  1—32 


498  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

the  Norman,  and  closing  with  Victor  Emmanuel  the 
first  king  of  United  Italy. 

Naples  possesses  about  three  hundred  churches, 
of  which  the  chief  is  the  Cathedral  of  San  Gennaro 
(St.  Januarius)  the  patron  saint,  built  on  the  north- 
ern verge  of  the  older  town,  and  standing  on  the  site 
of  a  temple  of  Neptune,  this  cathedral  being  an  edifice 
in  Flamboyant  Gothic,  with  lofty  towers  and  pointed 
arches.  Charles  of  Anjou  began  the  structure  in 
1272,  and  it  was  over  forty  years  building.  An 
earthquake  nearly  destroyed  it  in  the  fifteenth 
century,  but  Alfonso  rebuilt  it,  and  there  has  recently 
been  a  thorough  restoration.  It  contains  the  tomb 
of  Charles  I  of  Anjou,  Charles  Martel  and  Andreas, 
Kings  of  Hungary,  Popes  Innocent  IV  and  Innocent 
XII,  and  other  distinguished  personages.  The  gem 
of  the  cathedral  is  the  Chapel  of  St.  Januarius.  Its 
construction  was  due  to  a  vow  made  during  the 
plague  of  1527,  which  the  Saint  is  believed 
to  have  stayed,  although  the  chapel  was  not  built 
until  the  seventeenth  century,  and  it  then  cost  a 
million  ducats,  equivalent  to  about  $1,125,000. 
The  chapel  is  a  Greek  cross,  the  interior  decorated 
with  marbles  and  gold,  and  it  has  eight  altars,  mag- 
nificent doors,  forty-two  broccatello  columns,  and 
various  paintings  and  frescoes  representing  scenes  in 
the  saint's  life.  Among  the  collections  in  the  cathe- 
dral treasury  are  a  silver  bust  of  the  saint  executed 
in  1306,  and  in  the  tabernacle  of  the  high  altar,  are 


THE  CITY  OF  NAPLES  499 

kept  two  small  phials  containing  his  blood.  Beneath 
the  altar,  in  the  richly  decorated  crypt,  is  his 
tomb. 

St.  Januarius  was  born  in  272,  it  is  supposed  at 
Benevento,  sixty  miles  northeast  of  Naples,  of  which 
he  became  bishop  about  303.  He  was  beheaded  by 
order  of  Diocletian  at  Pozzuoli,  September  19,  305, 
and  his  remains  were  interred  there,  but  the  two  small 
phials  containing  his  blood,  taken  at  the  place  of 
the  execution,  were  preserved  and  afterward'  pre- 
sented to  Bishop  St.  Severus  of  Naples,  who  had 
his  body  brought  from  Pozzuoli  to  Naples  during 
the  reign  of  Constantine.  It  is  said  that  on  this 
occasion  the  liquefaction  of  the  blood  first  took 
place.  The  body  was  taken  to  Benevento  in  the 
ninth  century,  but  after  some  other  removals,  was 
on  January  13,  1497,  finally  brought  back  to  Naples 
with  great  pomp.  The  anniversary  of  his  martyr- 
dom, September  19,  is  the  great  festival  day  of  the 
city.  Many  miracles  were  attributed,  by  the  early 
church  annalists,  to  the  exhibition  of  the  saint's 
robes  on  various  occasions,  in  the  staying  of  the 
plague  and  of  eruptions  of  Vesuvius.  It  has  long 
been  customary  to  expose  the  blood  to  the  veneration 
of  the  faithful,  on  September  19,  the  saint's  festival 
day,  on  the  first  Sunday  in  May,  marking  the 
bringing  back  of  the  body  to  the  city,  and  on  Decem- 
ber 16,  which  commemorates  his  protection  of 
Naples  from  damage  by  an  eruption  of  Mount 


500  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

Vesuvius.  On  these  solemn  occasions,  the  bust  of 
the  saint  is  exhibited,  clothed  in  magnificent  vest- 
ments. The  reliquary,  containing  the  two  phials, 
is  an  oval  about  two  inches  long  and  six  inches  wide, 
the  sides  being  of  glass,  so  that  the  phials  are  in 
plain  view.  These  are  of  different  forms,  though 
of  the  same  length,  the  larger  one  containing  pure 
blood  and  the  smaller  one  blood  mixed  with  clay 
or  sand.  An  observer,  who  watched  the  ceremony, 
in  1906,  describes  how  the  reliquary  was  brought 
out,  and  placed  on  the  altar  table  before  the  congrega- 
tion. The  prelate,  after  looking  at  it,  said  to  the 
people,  "  Eduro!"  (it  is  solid).  Then  he  exhibited 
it  to  them,  reversing  it  to  show  that  the  blood  was 
hardened.  Afterward,  the  reliquary  was  brought 
close  to  the  bust,  but  the  liquefaction  did  not  follow, 
and  this  movement  was  repeated,  while  many  prayers 
were  said,  and  a  half  hour  elapsed.  Finally  the 
liquefaction  came,  and  the  reliquary  was  presented 
to  each  one  near  the  altar,  to  be  kissed.  A  most 
remarkable  change  had  taken  place;  the  dark  sub- 
stance, previously  as  solid  as  wax,  and  not  affected 
by  the  motion  of  the  reliquary,  became  red  and  al- 
most limpid,  and  was  then  following  the  motion,  as 
the  phial  was  turned  up  or  down ;  the  blood  also 
seemed  to  live  and  move,  it  bubbled,  boiled  and 
throbbed,  like  that  in  an  artery,  and  had  all  the  ap- 
pearance of  human  blood.  This  liquefaction  some- 
times will  continue  for  the  week,  during  which  the 


THE  CITY  OF  NAPLES  501 

ceremonies  are  repeated,  and  it  has  been  investigated 
by  many  scientists  without  explanation.  It  is  the 
great  religious  event  in  Naples. 

Some  other  churches  are  of  interest.  Adjoining 
the  cathedral  is  Santa  Restituta,  an  earlier  church 
of  the  seventh  century,  on  the  site  of  a  temple 
of  Apollo,  of  which  some  of  the  Corinthian  columns 
are  preserved,  this  having  been  the  first  Neapolitan 
cathedral.  San  Domenico  Maggiore,  built  in  the 
thirteenth  century,  after  the  cathedral,  is  the  finest 
church  in  Naples,  has  twenty-seven  chapels  and 
twelve  altars,  belonging  to  the  most  distinguished 
Neapolitan  families,  many  of  these  richly  decorated. 
Its  Chapel  of  the  Crocefisso  is  the  most  noteworthy, 
containing  a  relief  of  the  Miracle  of  the  Crucifix, 
which,  according  to  the  tradition,  talked  to  St. 
Thomas  Aquinas,  who  lived  in  the  monastery  ad- 
joining. He  was  professor  of  philosophy  there  in 
the  thirteenth  century,  his  cell  and  lecture  room 
being  still  preserved.  St.  Thomas  Aquinas  was 
the  famous  religious  instructor  and  author,  whose 
services  were  so  useful  to  Pope  Urban  IV.  When 
at  college,  it  is  said  that,  from  his  bigness  and 
usual  silence,  his  fellow-students  called  him  the 
"  Dumb  Ox."  But  the  promptness  of  his  answers, 
and  the  acuteness  of  his  intellect,  led  the  master  one 
day  to  surprise  them  by  remarking,  "  This  dumb 
ox  will  give  such  a  bellow  in  learning  as  all  the 
world  shall  hear." 


502  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

In  Sante  Chiara  is  the  monument  of  King  Robert 
the  Wise,  over  forty  feet  high,  and  in  Sante  Maria 
del  Carmine,  that  of  Maximilian  II  of  Bavaria.  St. 
Giovanni  a  Carbonara  contains  the  monument  of 
King  Ladislaus,  behind  the  high  altar,  supporting 
the  king's  equestrian  statue,  a  magnificent  structure 
erected  bj  his  sister  Johanna  II.  In  Santa  Maria 
la  Nuovo  is  a  chapel  erected  in  1604  by  Gonsalvo  de 
Cordova  — "  le  Gran  Capitan,"  his  nephew  Ferdin- 
and having  placed  on  each  side  of  the  altar,  the 
monuments  of  his  two  most  noted  enemies,  Novarro, 
who  strangled  himself,  and  the  Frenchmen  Lautrec, 
the  general  of  Francis  I,  who  died  of  the  plague  in 
1528,  while  besieging  Naples.  In  the  monastery 
connected  with  Santi  Severino  e  Sosio,  are  the 
valuable  archives  of  the  Kingdom  of  Naples,  includ- 
ing 40,000  manuscripts,  some  of  them  as  old  as 
the  seventh  century,  and  written  in  Greek,  and  many 
volumes  of  documents.  The  frescoes  here  represent 
scenes  in  the  life  of  St.  Benedict,  who  planted  in 
the  central  court  a  buttonwood  tree,  on  which  is 
grafted  a  fig  tree.  San  Francesca  di  Paola,  near 
the  Royal  Palace,  has  its  high  altar  inlaid  with  jas- 
per and  lapis  lazuli,  thirty-two  Corinthian  marble 
columns  supporting  the  splendid  dome,  and  a  special 
gallery  for  the  royal  family.  In  front  of  this 
church,  are  equestrian  statues  of  Kings  Charles  III 
and  Ferdinand  I.  In  San  Giacomo  degli  Spagnuoli, 
built  by  Don  Pedro  of  Toledo,  is  his  splendid  tomb 


THE  CITY  OF  NAPLES  503 

behind  the  altar,  adorned  with  reliefs  representing 
his  achievements,  statues  of  the  cardinal  virtues, 
and  having  the  viceroy  and  his  wife  in  kneeling 
posture. 

The  University  of  Naples,  founded  by  the  Em- 
peror Frederick  in  the  thirteenth  century,  occupies 
the  buildings  of  the  Jesuits'  College  in  the  old 
town.  It  has  a  fine  library  and  natural  history  col- 
lection, its  faculties  including  about  one  hundred 
professors  and  there  are  usually  five  thousand 
students.  New  buildings  are  being  constructed  for 
it  in  the  eastern  suburbs.  Naples  is  celebrated  for 
its  San  Carlo  Theatre,  one  of  the  largest  opera 
houses  in  Italy,  where  most  of  the  famous  works  of 
Donizetti,  Rossini  and  Bellini  had  their  first  per- 
formances. This  theatre  adjoins  the  Royal  Palace. 
During  recent  years,  there  have  been  great  improve- 
ments made  in  the  densely  populated  quarters  of 
the  old  town,  by  opening  new  and  wider  streets,  with 
modern  buildings,  this  being  done,  both  for  the 
health  of  the  people,  and  to  secure  better  police  pro- 
tection. This  older  town  is  overlooked  from  the 
western  hills,  and  the  finest  point  of  observation  is 
from  the  high  eminence  of  Camaldoli,  to  which 
there  is  a  somewhat  toilsome  ascent.  From  this 
elevation  of  1,500  feet,  is  got  one  of  the  grandest 
views  in  Italy,  embracing  the  broad  bay  of  Naples 
and  the  regions  far  north  and  south,  the  city  cluster- 
ing around  the  heights  of  St.  Elmo,  which  conceal 


504:  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

part  of  the  lower  town.  The  long  western  peninsula, 
beyond  Pozzuoli,  goes  out  toward  Procida  and 
Ischia;  the  grand  southern  barrier  of  the  Sorrento 
peninsula,  has  Monte  St.  Angelo  rising  high  above 
it,  and  Capri  as  its  rocky  outpost.  The  luxuriant 
plain,  covered  with  delicious  gardens  and  orchards, 
stretches  from  the  city  toward  Vesuvius,  and  that 
massive  cone,  with  its  smoke  column  rising  to  the 
southeastward,  is  the  sombre  but  dominant  feature 
in  all  views  at  Naples. 

THE    GBEAT    VOLCANO. 

Far,  vague  and   dim, 

The  mountains  swim, 

While  on  Vesuvius'  misty  brim, 

With  outstretched  hands 

The  gray  smoke  stands, 

O'erlooking  the  volcanic  lands. 

Massive  Vesuvius  rises  almost  in  isolation,  from 
the  plain  to  the  eastward  of  Naples,  its  slopes  com- 
ing down  at  the  western  base  almost  to  the  edge 
of  the  sea.  It  has  a  variable  height,  depending  on 
the  damage  done  to  the  cone  by  the  successive  erup- 
tions. The  summit  gradually  ascends  when  the 
volcano  is  quiescent,  but  an  eruption  usually  blows 
off  the  top  of  the  crater's  rim.  It  has  reached  an 
elevation  of  4,450  feet,  but  now  rises  about  4,075 
feet,  the.  last  eruption  in  1906  having  reduced  the 
height  of  the  crater  375  feet.  Around  the  north- 
eastern base  of  the  cone  there  is  a  crescent-shaped 


THE  GREAT  VOLCANO  505 

ridge,  called  Monte  Somma,  of  which  the  Punta  del 
Nasone,  the  most  elevated  portion,  rises  3,730  feet, 
thus  being  lower  than  the  volcanic  cone,  and  having 
between  a  semicircular  valley,  called  the  Atrio  del 
Cavallo.  To  this  valley,  the  sides  of  Monte  Somma 
descend  almost  perpendicularly,  while  the  cone  has 
a  slope  of  about  35°,  the  surface  of  the  lower  moun- 
tain having  a  more  gradual  slope.  Vesuvius  is  the 
southeastern  extremity  of  the  volcanic  district 
which  embraces  the  Solfatara,  Monte  Nuovo  and 
Mount  Epomeo  on  Ischia,  but  the  others  have  had 
no  eruptions  for  three  centuries,  though  in  very 
ancient  times  they  were  the  active  volcanoes.  Be- 
fore the  Christian  era,  the  form  of  Vesuvius  was 
entirely  different  from  its  appearance  now.  Strabo 
wrote  in  the  time  of  Augustus  that  it  was  covered 
with  beautiful  meadows  with  the  exception  of  the 
summit.  That  was  quite  sterile  with  rocks  of  ashen 
hue  and  sooty  consistency,  as  if  they  had  been  con- 
sumed by  fire.  Strabo  concluded  from  this  that 
"  the  mountain  had  once  burned,  and  possessed 
fiery  abysses,  and  had  become  extinguished  when 
the  material  was  spent."  Its  height  then  was  less 
than  now,  and  its  outline  a  wide  blunt  truncated 
cone,  lowest  on  the  southern  side,  where  the 
Vesuvius  cone  now  rises.  There  was  a  very  broad 
crater  on  the  summit,  but  no  tradition  even  existed 
that  an  eruption  had  ever  occurred.  The  floor  and 
sides  of  the  crater  were  overgrown  by  trees  and 


506  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

shrubbery,  with  ivy  and  wild  vines  running  up  the 
walls.  This  crater  was  made  historical,  when  the 
Capuan  gladiators  sheltered  themselves  within  its 
natural  fortress,  from  which  they  came  out  about 
74  B.  C.  under  the  lead  of  Spartacus,  to  begin  the 
Roman  Servile  War,  he  ruling  Campania  for  two 
years.  In  the  later  first  century  came  premonitory 
earthquakes,-  beginning  in  the  year  63,  when  Nero 
reigned,  and  occasionally  repeated  until  79,  when 
the  first  great  and  unexpected  eruption  destroyed 
Herculaneum,  Pompeii  and  Stabise.  This  was  then 
described,  as  at  first  a  huge  dark  cloud,  rising  from 
the  crater  to  three  or  four  times  the  height  of  the 
mountain,  followed  by  an  eruption  of  red-hot  scoria 
and  ashes,  lasting  all  night,  accompanied  by  suc- 
cessive earthquake  shocks.  In  the  morning,  when 
the  air  cleared,  it  was  seen  that  the  southwestern 
half  of  the  ancient  crater  wall  had  been  thrown 
down,  leaving  the  curving  ridge  on  the  other  side, 
now  called  Somma.  The  cities  were  buried  under 
ashes,  lava  and  mud,  and  the  ground,  as  far  as  Cape 
Miseno,  was  white  with  fallen  ashes,  looking  as  if 
covered  with  deep  snow. 

The  younger  Pliny  described  this  eruption  in  let- 
ters to  Tacitus,  and  recorded  the  universal  terror, 
as  most  people  believed  the  end  of  the  world  had 
come.  Outbreaks  have  occurred  since,  during  which 
the  present  cone  has  been  built  up,  within  the 
ancient  crater,  and  more  than  once  partially  de- 


THE  GREAT  VOLCANO  507 

stroyed.  There  was  a  serious  eruption  in  203  A. 
D.,  and  another  in  472,  when  the  ashes  were  blown 
as  far  as  Constantinople.  !Nlne  eruptions  had  been 
recorded  down  to  1500  and  the  volcano  was  quiet 
until  1631,  Etna  laboring  in  the  meanwhile,  and 
Monte  Xuovo  being  thrown  up  in  1538.  The 
Vesuvius  crater  had  again  become  entirely  covered 
with  woods  and  undergrowth,  when  on  December 
16,  1631,  there  came  a  terrible  eruption,  the  earth 
being  convulsed  by  earthquakes,  large  stones  thrown 
fifteen  miles,  and  the  ashes  blown  all  over  southern 
Italy.  The  villages  on  the  seaside  of  the  mountain 
base  were  overwhelmed,  and  three  thousand  persons 
perished.  There  were  six  serious  eruptions  in  the 
eighteenth  century,  that  of  1794  killing  four  hundred 
people.  Seven  eruptions  in  the  nineteenth  century, 
occurred  previously  to  that  of  April,  1872,  which 
lasted  seven  days,  lava  bursting  out  on  every  side, 
and  one  stream  issuing  with  such  suddenness,  in 
the  Atrio  del  Cavallo  valley,  on  April  26,  that  it 
overtook  a  crowd  of  spectators  watching  the  spec- 
tacle, and  twenty  perished.  The  next  serious 
eruption  was  in  1895,  and  then  the  mountain  was 
quiet  until  1903,  when  it  became  restless,  and  was 
more  or  less  disturbed  until  the  last  great  outburst 
began  on  April  4,  1906.  Early  that  morning,  a 
fissure  opened  on  the  southeastern  side  of  the  cone, 
at  about  3,600  feet  altitude,  and  a  stream  of  lava 
flowed  down,  while  large  stones  were  thrown  out. 


508  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

In  the  afternoon,  that  side  of  the  cone  fell  in,  and  a 
dense  column  of  smoke  rose  above  the  crater,  black 
ashes  falling  in  Naples  in  the  evening.  Next  day  a 
second  fissure  opened  at  a  lower  level,  and  another 
lava  stream  flowed  more  than  two  miles  down  the 
mountain.  On  April  6,  came  copious  lava  out- 
pourings, and  in  the  evening,  the  main  crater  be- 
gan hurling  out  huge  blocks,  at  white  heat,  with 
loud  detonations,  vivid  light  flashes,  and  a  rain  of 
ashes,  which  destroyed  Ottajano  and  San  Giuseppe 
at  the  eastern  base,  the  earthquake  shocks  being 
frequent.  The  ashes,  by  the  8th,  had  changed  in 
color  from  black  to  reddish  gray,  the  fall  being 
copious,  and  covering  Naples  with  a  dense  pall,  the 
cloud  which  arose  from  the  mountain,  shaped  like 
a  huge  pine  tree,  being  blown  a  hundred  miles  north- 
ward by  the  wind,  with  ashes  falling  throughout 
Switzerland,  and  being  noticed  even  in  Paris. 

The  eruptions  continued  a  couple  of  days  after- 
ward, and  then  the  volcano  quieted.  The  smoke 
cloud  rising  from  the  volcano  was  measured  by  ob- 
servers out  at  sea,  its  height  being  estimated  at  two 
miles  above  the  mountain,  while  the  sharp  pointed 
summit  of  the  cone  had  disappeared,  the  top  being 
flatter,  and  the  crater  much  wider  and  more  open- 
mouthed.  It  was  found,  by  subsequent  examina- 
tion, that  the  whole  top  of  the  cone  had  been  blown 
off,  so  that  it  was  about  375  feet  lower  than  before 
the  eruption.  All  the  villages,  at  the  base  of  the 


THE  GREAT  VOLCANO  509 

mountain  on  the  seaside,  were  abandoned,  being 
covered  with  scoria  and  ashes,  though  the  lava  cur- 
rents, which  in  some  places  were  twenty-five  feet 
thick,  had  become  viscid  and  ceased  to  move  before 
reaching  any  of  these  settlements.  There  were 
about  two  hundred  lives  lost,  twenty  thousand  people 
were  made  refugees,  causing  vast  distress,  and  the 
damage  by  the  eruption  was  calculated  at  $5,000,000. 
The  amount  of  ashes  and  scoria  thrown  out  was 
calculated  at  one  hundred  millions  of  cubic  yards. 

A  railroad  carries  the  visitor  from  Naples  to 
the  mountain,  and  up  its  sides,  going  almost  to  the 
summit  of  the  cone.  The  upper  portion  of  this 
road  was  much  disturbed  by  the  1906  eruption,  but 
it  was  again  put  in  working  order.  The  route 
passes  over  some  of  the  great  lava  streams  of  former 
eruptions.  The  lava  color  is  a  deep  purple  or 
brownish-black,  the  surface  being  somewhat  glassy, 
but  roughened,  with  small  projections.  It  has  been 
congealed  into  strange  forms,  sometimes  like  twisted 
cables,  then  wrinkled,  with  curving  lines  of  viscous 
flow,  wave  spreading  over  wave  in  one  part,  and  in 
another  having  an  apparently  petrified  spray  leap- 
ing up.  Huge  blocks  are  toppled  over  and  held  fast, 
and  deep  fissures  are  rent  in  the  mass.  Upon  the 
lower  plain  and  slopes,  where  there  is  a  luxurious 
vegetation  and  many  vineyards,  the  native  product, 
the  famous  Lacrimce  Christi  wine  — "  the  tears  of 
Christ," —  is  offered  for  sale.  As  the  road  mounts 


510  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

upward,  a  beautiful  view  is  disclosed,  and  soon  the 
route  comes  to  the  little  hermitage  and  observatory 
at  2,220  feet  elevation,  where  there  also  is  a  hotel. 
These  are  perched  on  a  spur  of  the  mountain,  mak- 
ing a  narrow  crest  on  the  western  side,  between  two 
shallow  gorges,  down  which  the  lava  currents  flow, 
as  they  emerge  from  the  Atrio  del  Cavallo,  between 
the  curving,  craggy  wall  of  Somma  and  the  central 
cone.  This  has  been  a  safe  position,  from  which, 
for  over  fifty  years,  scientific  observations  have 
been  made  of  the  eruptions.  Beyond  the  observa- 
tory, the  railway  is  laid  over  the  lava  fields  to  the 
base  of  the  cone,  and  thence  a  funicular  railway 
ascends  part  way  to  the  crater.  The  cone,  which 
has  to  be  climbed  on  foot,  is  a  huge  cinder  heap,  a 
steep  hill  of  loose  slag  and  ashes,  having  here  and 
there  a  little  lava  stream  that  has  hardened,  which 
gives  a  better  hold  to  the  feet,  wearied  by  sinking 
into  the  dusty  and  unstable  ashes.  Some  visitors 
are  aided  by  the  guides,  who  help  them  by  pulling 
up  with  sticks  or  straps  which  they  catch  hold  of, 
and  it  is  also  possible  to  get  carried  up  in  a  sort  of 
chair. 

Upon  reaching  the  summit,  a  dense  steam  cloud 
appears  in  front,  and  a  strong  odor  of  sulphur  and 
alkali  prevails.  This  makes  respiration  difficult, 
but  by  moving  around  the  side  of  the  crater  to  wind- 
ward, a  location  can  be  obtained,  where  the  cloud  is 
blown  to  the  other  side.  Creeping  along  and  peer- 


THE  GREAT  VOLCANO  511 

ing  over  the  edge,  the  abyss  may  be  looked  into, 
though  little  can  be  seen  of  the  interior.  The  dark 
and  stained  walls  go  steeply  down,  but  are  soon 
lost  to  view  in  the  steaming  and  bad-smelling 
cauldron  below.  In  rifts  in  the  lava  the  stones  are 
hot,  and  the  pungent  vapor  quickly  fills  the  eyes 
with  tears,  and  it  will  ruin  clothing  in  only  a  brief 
exposure.  Metals  are  blackened,  and  fabrics  soon 
turn  rust-color.  A  very  brief  view  is  entirely  sat- 
isfying, and  the  visitor,  who  might  at  any  moment 
have  the  cauldron  heave  upward,  with  a  shower  of 
stones  thrown  upon  him,  an  outburst  which  comes 
frequently,  is  soon  willing  to  turn  about  and 
descend  the  cone.  The  coming  down  is  much  easier 
than  the  going  up.  Starting  on  a  half-run  with 
the  heels  set  firmly  in  the  cinders,  you  and  a  small 
avalanche  of  cinders  slide  down  together.  Through- 
out the  ascent  and  the  descent,  there  is  an  admir- 
able view  westward  over  the  rich  plains  and  the 
city,  for  the  hot  steam  jet  speedily  rises  high  above 
the  mountain,  and  is  carried  off  by  the  wind,  so 
that  the  outlook  is  unobscured.  The  landscape  is 
superb,  embracing  the  broad  blue  bay  and  its  splen- 
did borders,  with  the  far-spreading  Mediterranean 
bounded  by  the  western  horizon.  The  sight  of 
Vesuvius  is  the  great  feature  of  the  visit  to  Naples, 
grand  when  in  eruption,  always  interesting,  and 
similar  to-day  to  its  exhibition  about  a  century  ago, 
when  Byron  saw  it  and  wrote  thus: 


512  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

Vesuvius  shows  his  blaze,  an  usual  sight 

For  gaping  tourists,  from  his  hackney'd  height. 


THE   BURIED    CITY. 

The  journey  to  Pompeii,  twelve  miles  from 
Naples,  is  also  by  railway,  and  the  view  of  the 
recently  uncovered  city,  at  the  southeastern  base  of 
Vesuvius,  with  the  exhibits  in  the  Museum  at 
Naples,  are  the  chief  source  of  information  we  have 
of  the  Roman  mode  of  life  at  the  beginning  of  the 
Christian  era.  The  relics  found  at  Pompeii  have 
been  placed  in  the  Museum,  and  make  an  extensive 
display.  There  are  statues,  bronzes,  paintings, 
mosaics,  furniture,  ornaments,  tableware  and  kitchen 
utensils,  toilet  articles  and  jewelry,  and  even  the 
children's  money  boxes  and  toys,  also  bread,  corn, 
fruit,  vegetables,  wines,  and  practically  everything 
connected  with  the  daily  life  of  the  people.  These 
relics  were  found  in  the  houses  and  public  places, 
and  form  a  remarkable  exhibition.  The  city  itself  is 
about  one-half  excavated,  and  the  work  progresses  but 
slowly.  Pompeii  had  about  25,000  people  and  was 
a  Roman  seashore  resort,  its  walls  and  Greek  Temple 
showing  it  to  have  had  great  antiquity.  In  the  year 
63  A.  D.,  it  was  seriously  damaged  by  the  premoni- 
tory earthquake  that  preceded  the  great  eruption  of 
Vesuvius  in  79,  which  came  unexpectedly,  when  the 
people  were  restoring  their  buildings,  many  of  the 
structures  being  found  unfinished.  The  eruption  be- 


THE  BURIED  CITY  513 

gan  August  24,  79,  at  first  with  a  dense  shower  of 
ashes,  covering  the  town  to  a  depth  of  about  three  feet, 
so  that  most  of  the  population  had  a  chance  to  escape. 
Many,  however,  returned,  and  then  the  place  was 
covered  with  another  shower  of  red-hot  fragments 
of  pumice  stone,  which  fell  to  seven  or  eight  feet 
thickness,  and  were  succeeded  by  more  ashes  and 
more  pumice  stone,  so  that  altogether,  the  city  was 
covered  to  a  depth  generally  of  twenty  feet,  part 
of  this  being  formed,  however,  by  later  eruptions. 
The  number  who  perished  is  estimated  at  two 
thousand.  The  city  was  an  irregular  oval  of  nearly 
two  miles  circumference,  and  the  sea  then  came  to 
its  walls,  and  through  the  river  Sarno,  which  flowed 
by  it,  provided  much  maritime  trade.  But  the 
eruption  of  79  made  great  changes,  so  that  the  course 
of  the  river  was  deviated,  and  the  sea  coast  receded 
over  a  mile. 

The  site  of  Pompeii  was  completely  lost  after  the 
fifth  century,  and  during  the  middle  ages  its  memory 
passed  into  oblivion,  the  Campus  Pompeius  becom- 
ing an  undisturbed  and  uninhabited  plain.  In  the 
sixteenth  century  a  subterranean  conduit  was  con- 
structed, from  the  Sarno,  directly  over  the  buried 
Pompeii,  to  supply  Torre  Annunziata  with  water,  yet 
the  city  was  not  discovered.  In  1748,  a  peasant, 
sinking  a  well,  found  several  statues  and  ancient 
bronze  utensils,  and  this  led  King  Charles  III  of 

Naples  to  make  excavations,  which  in  1755  exhumed 
VOL.  1—33 


514  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

the  amphitheatre  and  other  buildings.  All  the 
rulers  of  Naples  and  Italy  have  continued  the  work. 
Murat  uncovered  the  Forum,  town  walls  and  the 
"  Street  of  Tombs,"  outside  the  gates,  on  the  road 
to  Herculaneum.  During  the  later  nineteenth  cen- 
tury a  systematic  plan  has  been  pursued,  the  de- 
sign being  to  uncover  the  entire  city,  which  it  is 
thought  may  be  done  by  the  middle  of  the  twentieth 
century.  This  work,  it  is  estimated,  will  cost 
$1,000,000,  and  to  the  fund,  the  visitors'  entrance 
fees  of  two  lire,  about  thirty-eight  cents  each,  and 
amounting  to  $8,000  annually,  are  devoted,  the 
Government  also  contributing. 

Entering  by  the  Marine  Gate,  there  being  eight 
gates  in  the  walls,  the  visitor  walks  through  a  veri- 
table city  of  the  dead.  The  wooden  roofs  of  the 
buildings  are  gone,  having  been  burnt  or  crushed  by 
the  weight  upon  them,  but  the  walls  remain,  and  also 
the  streets,  and  the  frescoes  and  mosaic  pavements 
inside  the  buildings.  These  were  preserved  by  the 
covering  of  ashes,  and  were  found  in  almost  as  good 
condition  as  at  the  time  of  the  eruption.  In  the 
later  work,  the  newly  excavated  buildings  are  pro- 
tected by  enclosing  and  roofing  them,  so  that  the 
beautiful  Pompeian  colors,  largely  red  and  blue,  are 
retained.  The  shops,  on  the  streets,  look  just  like 
many  of  those  in  old  Naples  to-day.  The  highways 
are  bordered  by  narrow  sidewalks,  and  are  not  over 
twenty-four  feet  in  width,  while  many  of  them  are 


THE  BURIED  CITY  515 

only  fourteen  feet  wide.  They  are  paved  with 
large  lava  blocks,  and  at  intervals,  especially  at  the 
street  corners,  are  high  stepping-stones,  so  that 
pedestrians  could  keep  out  of  the  rain  water  and 
dirt.  The  paving  blocks  are  worn  into  ruts  by  the 
Roman  chariot  wheels,  but  these  ruts  being  not  much 
over  four  feet  apart,  show  that  the  ancient  vehicle 
was  not  so  wide  as  the  modern.  Public  fountains 
are  at  several  street  corners.  There  are  public 
offices,  inns,  law-courts,  temples,  residences,  baths, 
prisons,  villas,  two  theatres,  a  forum  and  large 
amphitheatre,  and  the  city  discloses  everything  of 
interest  in  the  daily  life  of  the  Pompeians.  The 
architecture  is  not  striking,  nor  were  the  materials 
generally  valuable.  There  is  much  stucco  and 
other  light  construction,  and  the  building  method 
seems  to  have  been  very  like  the  modern  Italian  way, 
the  walls  and  columns  being  usually  of  rubble  or 
brick,  and  coated  with  plaster.  As  the  upper 
portions  of  the  buildings  are  destroyed,  only  the 
lower  stories  remain,  but  there  are  staircases,  show- 
ing that  the  houses  might  have  been  two  or  three 
stories  high.  The  absence  of  glass  made  a  difference 
in  construction,  because  there  are  few  openings  in 
the  outer  walls,  as  the  people  usually  remained  in 
the  interior,  and  thus  their  houses  generally  have 
the  oriental  system  of  construction.  The  entrances 
from  the  street,  to  the  houses,  are  usually  by  a  nar- 
row passage  to  the  large  interior  court,  which  had 


516  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

an.  opening  above  to  admit  light  and  air,  and  into 
this  court  the  interior  rooms  opened,  most  of  these 
apartments  being  very  small.  The  water  supply 
was  distributed  much  as  now,  leaden  pipes  conduct- 
ing it  through  the  streets  and  into  the  houses,  with 
bronze  inlets  and  outlets  at  the  baths,  and  bronze 
stopcocks  at  the  public  fountains. 

The  highway  leading  northwestward  outside  the 
gate,  toward  Herculaneum,  is  the  excavated  "  Street 
of  the  Tombs,"  being  lined  on  both  sides  with  tombs. 
These  vary  in  design,  and  as  cremation  was  then  in 
practice,  a  whole  family  could  be  put  into  a  limited 
space,  an  ordinary  urn  being  large  enough  for  the 
last  resting  place  of  even  the  most  important 
Pompeian.  The  interior  of  the  cremation  tomb,  has 
a  number  of  shallow  recesses  like  a  dovecote,  whence 
came  its  name  of  Columbarium.  In  these  the  urns 
were  generally  placed,  either  on  a  shelf,  or  let  into 
the  wall,  with  the  name  of  the  deceased  and  his 
virtues  recorded  on  a  tablet.  Some  of  these  tombs 
belong  to  the  earlier  period,  when  the  dead  were 
buried  instead  of  being  burned,  and  had  painted 
vessels  of  terra  cotta  interred  with  them.  Some 
skeletons  were  found  in ;  these.  The  most  famous 
tombf.is  that  of  Diomedes,  adjoining  which  is  his 
villa,  so  ^vividly  described  in  Bulwer  Lytton's  .Las£ 
Days  .of  Pompeii.  This  is  a  spacious  .place,,  with 
a  garden,  over  one  :hundred  feet  square,,  surrounded 
by -a  .colonnade,  and  having  beneath,  a  vaulted  cellar. 


THE  BURIED  CITY  517 

Here  were  found  the  bodies  of  eighteen  women  and 
children,  who  had  provided  food,  and  sought  pro- 
tection from  the  eruption,  in  the  vault.  They  had 
their  heads  wrapped  up,  and  were  half  buried  in 
the  ashes  that  had  penetrated  the  openings. 
Near  the  garden  door  was  found  the  skele- 
ton of  the  proprietor  Diomedes,  with  the  key 
in  his  hand.  There  are  skeletons  still  occasionally 
found  in  the  process  of  excavation,  and  about  one 
hundred  have  been  recovered.  In  some  cases,  the 
volcanic  dust  had  solidified  so  as  to  form  an  exact 
model  of  the  original  figure.  By  running  plaster 
into  this  natural  mould,  a  cast  is  made,  and  the 
person  is  thus  reproduced  in  most  painful  accuracy. 
The  casts  show  that  death  was  not  easy,  the  arms  and 
legs  being  drawn  up,  and  the  fingers  often  partly 
clenched,  as  if  in  agony.  One  girl  of  graceful 
shape,  and  about  seventeen  years  old,  lies  on  her 
face,  with  her  eyes  pressed  against  her  arm,  as  if 
she  had  fallen  in  despair,'  and  wished  to  shut  out  the 
horrid  sight.  There  is  also  a  dog's  body,  bent  almost 
double,  as  if  dying  of  convulsions.  Some  of  these 
casts  are  preserved  in  the  Pompeian  Museum,  which 
is  near  the  Marine  Gate. 

The  forum  was  over  500  feet  long  and  100  feet 
wide,  was  decorated  by  statues,  and  its  colonnade  of 
Doric,  surrounded  by  Ionic,  had  been  injured  by 
the  earthquake.  Adjoining  it,  or  near  it,  are 
Temples  of  Jupiter,  Apollo,  Mercury,  Isis  and 


518  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

Esculapius,  with  also  the  Basilica  and  Macellum, 
that  were  markets  and  law-courts,  and  the  building 
of  the  Priestess  Eumachia,  which  was  the  wool  mar- 
ket, and  contained  her  statue.  The  amphitheatre,  at 
the  southeastern  edge  of  Pompeii,  was  about  450 
feet  long,  and  had  accommodations  for  twenty  thou- 
sand spectators.  There  is  also  a  theatre  with  seats 
for  five  thousand,  and  an  adjoining  smaller  theatre 
with  fifteen  hundred  seats.  These  structures  were 
open  to  the  sky,  but  had  awnings  for  protection 
against  the  sun  and  rain,  and  these  were  sprayed 
with  water  for  cooling.  Announcements  were  found, 
much  as  now,  of  contemplated  performances,  inscrip- 
tions showed  that  pavements,  statues  and  other  deco- 
rations, were  gifts  of  benefactors  and  officials,  and  it 
was  indicated  that  seats  "  in  the  shade  "  were  at  a 
premium  then,  just  as  they  always  have  been  since. 
In  the  adjacent  quarter,  reserved  for  the  gladiators, 
several  skeletons  were  found  in  the  cells.  The  public 
baths,  or  Thermae,  were  large  establishments,  admir- 
ably arranged  and  heated,  there  being  separate  apart- 
ments for  the  men  and  women,  extensive  dressing 
rooms,  and  a  swimming  bath.  The  private  houses 
are  of  much  interest,  the  walls  being  usually  painted 
in  bright  colors,  mostly  red,  blue  and  yellow,  with 
also  many  mosaics.  The  finest  residence  is  the 
"  House  of  the  Faun,"  so  called  because  a  statuette 
of  a  dancing  girl  was  found  here.  This  house  is  262 
by  125  feet,  and  in  it  was  the  celebrated  mosaic  of 


The  Forum  at  Pompeii. 


THE  BURIED  CITY  519 

the  "  Battle  of  Alexander,"  which  was  taken  to  the 
Naples  Museum.  This  work  represents  the  contest 
at  Issus,  just  as  Alexander  is  charging  Darius  with 
his  cavalry,  and  forces  the  defeat  and  retreat  of  the 
Persians,  and  somebody  has  counted  1,374,516  small 
mosaic  cubes  in  this  grand  picture.  Another  elegant 
residence  is  the  "  House  of  the  Tragic  Poet,"  thus 
named  because  in  it  was  the  representation  of  a  poet 
reading,  and  also  a  mosaic  of  a  theatrical  rehearsal 
where  the  choragus  is  instructing  the  actors.  On 
its  threshold  was  the  mosaic  dog,  with  the  inscription 
Cave  Canem, — "  beware  of  the  dog."  These,  with 
several  paintings,  were  taken  to  the  Naples  Museum, 
this  house  having  provided  the  greatest  variety  of 
beautiful  paintings. 

The  "  House  of  Sallust "  is  one  of  the  largest,  and 
most  complete  in  its  adornment,  in  Pompeii.  Its 
interior  stucco  is  painted  to  imitate  marble,  with 
bright  red  and  blue  colors,  and  it  has  in  the  rear  a 
garden.  The  "  House  of  Castor  and  Pollux  "  was 
built  as  two  structures,  but  connected  by  a  large 
peristyle  adorned  all  around  with  paintings.  This 
is  finely  decorated  within  and  without,  and  has  nu- 
merous mythological  pictures.  The  "  House  of 
Marcus  Lucretius  "  was  richly  adorned  with  pictures, 
mosaics,  bronzes,  vases,  ornaments  and  coins,  most 
of  which  have  gone  to  the  Museum.  The  name  of 
the  owner  was  learned  from  a  letter  painted  on  the 
wall,  with  his  address.  The  "  House  of  Siricus  " 


520  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

had  a  large  adjacent  bakehouse,  of  which  he  was  pro- 
prietor, and  here  loaves  of  bread  were  found.  The 
"  House  with  the  Balcony  "  has  three  rooms  project- 
ing on  the  upper  floor,  that  were  preserved  by  care- 
fully replacing  the  charred  woodwork  with  new 
beams.  In  the  "  House  of  the  Vettii,"  which  was 
gaudily  ornamented,  and  had  many  paintings,  all 
have  been  left  as  they  were  found,  and  they  make  a 
fine  display.  The  "  House  of  Pansa,"  the  magis- 
trate, occupied  an  entire  block,  319  by  124  feet,  and 
embraced  sixteen  shops  and  dwellings,  facing  two  of 
the  streets.  Here  was  found,  on  the  threshold,  the 
famous  mosaic  with  the  greeting  Salve.  The 
"  House  of  the  Anchor  "  was  named  for  an  anchor 
in  mosaic  at  the  entrance.  The  "  House  of  Adonis  " 
had  a  life  size  fresco,  in  the  garden,  of  the  wounded 
Adonis,  attended  by  Venus  and  Cupids.  The 
"  House  of  the  Surgeon,"  constructed  of  massive 
limestone  blocks,  is  regarded  as  the  oldest  house  in, 
the  city,  and  was  named  from  a  number  of  surgical 
instruments  found  in  it.  The  Temple  of  Isis,  ac- 
cording to  an  inscription  over  the  entrance,  had  just 
been  restored,  after  the  earthquake  of  63,  by  a  boy 
six  years  old  who  paid  for  the  work.  It  has  a  court, 
surrounded  by  columns,  with  several  altars,  and  an 
aperture  for  the  deposit  of  remains  of  sacrifices,  and 
chambers  for  the  priests.  A  secret  stairway  de- 
scended to  a  cistern..  A  statuette  of  Isis,  found 
in  the  portico,  was  taken  to  the  Naples  Museum. 


THE  BUKIED  CITY  521 

When  this  temple  was  excavated,  there  were  re- 
mains of  sacrifices  on  the  altars,  and  several  bodies 
were  found,  including  the  skeleton  of  a  priest 
with  an  axe.  There  are  many  other  structures, 
and  as  the  work  of  excavation  slowly  proceeds,  new 
buildings  are  uncovered  and  interesting  discoveries 
made.  There  have  also  been  found,  and  placed 
in  the  Museum,  a  beautiful  painting  of  Aphrodite, 
and  numerous  representations  of  Narcissus,  who 
was  a  favorite  of  the  Pompeians.  In  1875,  there 
•was  discovered  a  painting  of  Laocob'n,  regarded  as  one 
of  the  most  important  specimens  of  ancient  art  yet 
brought  to  light. 

As  one  wanders  through  the  narrow  streets  and 
curious  old  houses  of  this  resurrected  city,  the  view 
off  to  the  northwest  always  discloses  the  huge  volcano 
which  wrought  its  ruin,  more  than  eighteen  hundred 
years  ago,  the  smoke  cloud  blowing  far  away  before 
the  wind.  It  gives  the  impression,  that  is  almost  in- 
effaceable, of  the  resistless  powers  of  nature,  and  the 
vast  changes  that  come  in  the  world.  Yet  these 
tombs  and  excavated  houses  are  ever  contributing 
their  relics,  to  the  wonderful  art  collections  of  Italy, 
probably  the  greatest  in  the  world,  the  contemplation 
of  which,  with  the  country's  grand  development  of 
natural  fertility  and  beauty,  so  impressed  Lord  By- 
ron, that  in  Childe  Harold  he  pronounced  his  noble 
invocation : 


522  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

Fair  Italy! 

Thou  art  the  garden  of  the  world,  the  home 
Of  all  Art  yields  and  Nature  can  decree; 
Even  in  thy  desert,  what  is  like  to  thee? 
Thy  very  weeds  are  beautiful,  thy  waste 
More  rich  than  other  clime's  fertility; 
Thy  wreck  a  glory,  and  thy  ruin  graced 
With  an  immaculate  charm  which  cannot  be  defaced. 


TRINACRIA 


VIII 
TRINACRIA 

Lipari  Islands — Stromboli — Lipari — Vulcano — Salina — Panaria 
— The  Faro — Scylla — Charybdis — The  Land  of  Earthquakes 
— Messina — Keggio — Taormina — Naxos — Aci  Reale — The  Cy- 
clops— Acis  and  Galatea — The  Faraglioni — Catania — Mount 
Etna — Moio — Bronte — Milazzo — Tyndaris — The  Fata  Mor- 
gana— Cefalu — Himera — Termini  Imerese — The  Conca  d'Oro 
— Monte  Pellegrino — Palermo — Santa  Rosalia — Monreale — 
Castellammare — Calatafimi — Segesta — Monte  San  Giuliano — 
Eryx— Trapam — ^Egadian  Islands — Marsala — Mazara — Sali- 
nus — Sciacca — Porta  Empedocle-r-Girgenti — Sulphur  mines 
— Castrogiovanni — Lake  Pergusa — Agira — Diodorus — Licata 
— Terranova — Gela — Vittoria — Sceglatti — Comiso — Modica — 
The  Cava  d'Ispica — Palazzolo  Acreide — Cape  Passero — Syra- 
cuse— Dionysius — Hiero — Archimedes — Fountain  of  Arethusa 
— Fountain  of  Cyane — Papyrus. 

STROMBOLI." 

Sicily  is  the  largest  island  in  the  Mediterranean. 
Its  English  name  is  Sicily,  while  the  Italians  call  it 
Sicalia,  and  it  was  anciently  known  as  Trinacria  from 
ita  triangular  form.  Bordering  the  northern  coast  is 
the  group  of  Lipari  Islands,  their  outpost  being  fa- 
mous Stromboli.  As  the  visitor  approaches,  on  the 
steamer  coming  from  Naples,  there  rises  into  viewy 
as  the  first  Sicilian  landmark,  the  isolated  cone-like 
summit  of  Stromboli,  a  perpetual  cjoud  of  black 


526  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

smoke  carried  away  from  its  top  by  the  wind,  and  ex- 
tending for  a  long  distance  in  the  air.  It  stands  out, 
about  forty  miles  westward  from  the  mainland  of 
Italy,  on  an  almost  circular  island,  the  northernmost 
of  the  Lipari  group,  which  is  an  archipelago  of  vol- 
canic rocks,  rising  in  bare  and  rugged  glory,  steeply 
from  the  sea,  their  lava  formed  peaks  being  a  sort  of 
uniting  chain  between  Mounts  Epomeo  and  Vesuvius, 
to  the  northward,  and  Etna  down  in  Sicily,  and  thus 
scattered  promiscuously  off  the  Sicilian  and  the 
Calabrian  shores.  Stromboli,  for  much  more  than 
two  thousand  years,  has  been  discharging  lava.  It  is 
the  great  beacon  of  the  Tyrrhenian  Sea,  and  in  the 
olden  time  was  regarded  as  the  seat  of  ^Eolus,  the 
god  of  the  winds,  for  Pliny  said  the  weather  could 
be  foretold  for  three  days  by  the  smoke  of  this  vol- 
cano. It  was  customary  in  the  middle  ages  to  de- 
scribe great  warriors  and  tyrants,  who  disappeared 
from  earth,  as  being  banished  into  Stromboli's  crater, 
for  this  was  regarded  as  the  entrance  to  Purgatory. 
The  returning  Crusaders  from  the  Holy  Land,  sailing 
by,  said  that  they  distinctly  heard  the  lamentations  of 
the  tortured  souls,  imploring  the  intercessions  of  the 
monks  for  deliverance.  The  peak  is  elevated  3,020 
feet,  the  crater  being  just  northward  of  the  summit. 
It  is  in  perpetual  activity,  though  not  exactly  in  con- 
tinuous eruption.  Flashing  out  at  brief  intervals 
with  regularity  and  brightness,  it  throws  up  showers 
of  stones,  almost  all  falling  back  within  the  crater. 


STJIOMBOLI  527 

The  brink  can  be  safely  approached,  and  the  interior 
surveyed,  when  the  smoke  is  not  too  dense.  Strom- 
boli,  in  its  regularity  of  eruption,  appears  much  like 
the  intermittent  gleam  of  a  flashing  lighthouse,  and 
as  it  stands  just  where  such  a  lighthouse  is  needed, 
guiding  into  the  Strait  of  Messina  to  the  southward, 
it  entirely  fulfils  that  duty,  the  flash  being  visible 
for  a  great  distance.  The  volcanic  light,  however, 
is  different,  being  larger  and  less  brilliant,  and  radiat- 
ing equally  in  all  directions.  On  a  dark  night  the 
observer  sees  not  only  the  flash  of  light,  but  also  a 
pale  phantom  cone,  starting  up  from  the  sea  sud- 
denly in  phosphorescent  outline,  and  then  as  quickly 
vanishing.  There  is  no  actual  flame,  but  the  display 
is  much  like  a  flame.  Climbing  up  to  the  edge  of  the 
crater,  to  examine  the  inner  workings,  down  within 
is  seen  a  lake  of  glowing  melted  rock,  the  surface 
being  a  skin  of  semi-solidified  lava.  Water  has  be- 
come mixed  into  the  seething  mass  far  below,  and  in 
the  form  of  latent  steam,  exerts  a  great  expansive 
pressure.  It  forces  its  way  upward,  beneath  the 
skin  of  semi-solid  lava  on  the  lake  within  the  crater. 
This  it  lifts  in  a  large  bubble,  which  soon  breaks  with 
a  vast  upward  rush  of  steam.  The  outburst  makes 
the  eruptive  flash,  its  luminosity  being  due  to  the 
reflection  of  the  light  from  the  fiery  lake  below,  upon 
the  steam  that  is  condensed  into  cloud  above  the  vol- 
cano. But  the  visitor,  who  is  peeping  over  the  edge, 
must  be  careful  when  he  sees  the  bubble  rising  to 


528  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

near  the  bursting  point,  and  must  duck  low  to  avoid 
the  rush  of  scalding  steam,  and  afterward  nimbly 
dodge  the  falling  lava  stones. 

There  are  seventeen  islands  in  the  Lipari  group, 
ten  being  smaller  rocks,  and  all  of  them  mountainous. 
They  are  of  volcanic  origin,  scattered  off  the  northern 
shore  of  Sicily,  and  being  from  twelve  to  forty  miles 
distant.  The  ancient  Greek  mythology  had  various 
legends  of  these  islands,  where  -ZEolus  ruled  the 
winds,  and  their  history  is  replete  with  records  of 
storms  and  earthquakes.  Ulysses  came  here  in  his 
wanderings,  and  the  Greeks  were  early  settlers. 
The  Romans  were  shy  of  them,  on  account  of  the 
volcanic  disturbances,  and  about  200  B.  C.,  Vul- 
canello  island  was  upheaved,  while  frequent  erup- 
tions occurred  afterward,  and  they  also  suffered 
severely  in  the  great  earthquake  of  1783,  and  some- 
what in  that  of  1908.  The  Romans  used  them  as  a 
place  of  exile.  The  largest  island,  Lipari,  covers 
about  ten  square  miles  surface,  and  its  central  sum- 
mit ridge'  is  elevated  1,950  feet.  It  has  nearly 
thirteen  thousand  population,  and  supplies  Europe 
with  pumice  stone,  of  which  the  surface  is  almost 
wholly  composed.  It  was  the  ancient  Meligunis, 
and  its  chief  town  of  Lipari  is  on  a  rocky  plateau 
on  the  eastern  coast,  where  a  harbor  exists,  and  be- 
hind the  town,  the  surface  rises  in  an  amphitheatre, 
toward  the  central  summit  of  Monte  St.  Angelo,  an 
extinct  volcano.  Here  is  the  old  castle  built  by 


SCYLLA  AND  CHARYBDIS  529 

Charles  V,  about  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century, 
as  a  defence,  after  the  place  had  been  plundered  by 
the  Barbarossa  pirates.  There  are  remains  of 
Roman  baths,  and  of  a  temple  they  erected  to  Diana, 
and  in  the  modern  town,  a  cathedral,  and  the  store- 
houses of  the  merchants  who  deal  in  the  pumice 
stone,  sulphur,  currants  and  Malmsey  wine,  the  is- 
land's products.  Southward  from  Lipari  is  Vulcano 
island,  connected  by  a  narrow  isthmus  with  the  up- 
heaved smaller  island  of  Vulcanello.  Vulcano's 
crater  is  constantly  smoking,  its  greatest  diameter 
being  about  sixteen  hundred  feet,  and  the  precip- 
itous interior  walls  are  covered  with  incrustations  of 
sulphur.  A  boiling  hot  sulphur  spring  issues  from 
the  lower  rocks  near  the  shore.  This  volcano,  in  the 
olden  time,  was  believed  to  be  Vulcan's  workshop. 
Salina  island,  formerly  known  as  Didyme,  or  "  the 
twins,"  is  composed  of  the  cones  of  two  extinct  vol- 
canoes, Monte  Vergine  rising  2,820  feet,  and  Monte 
Salvatore,  3,155  feet.  It  produces  Malmsey  wine. 
A  small  island  group  lies  northeast  of  Lipari,  of 
which  the  largest  is  Panaria;  this  group,  formerly 
one  island,  burst  into  the  present  fragments  as  the 
result  of  an  eruption,  126  B.  C.  The  volcanic  sum- 
mit on  Panaria  is  elevated  1,380  feet. 

SCYLLA    AND    CHAHYBDIS. 

We  approach  the  entrance  to  the  Strait  of  Messina, 

the  Italian  mainland  of  Calabria  stretching  far  away 
VOL.  1—34 


530  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

on  the  eastern  horizon,  while  in  front,  to  the  south- 
ward, is  Sicily.  The  southern  extremity  of  Italy 
is  formed  very  much  like  a  foot,  with  Calabria  as 
the  toe  and  instep,  off  which  is  Sicily,  separated  by 
the  comparatively  narrow  strait.  The  approach  to 
the  entrance  is  heralded  by  the  splendid  cone  of 
Etna,  with  its  smoke  column,  seen  rising  to  the 
southeastward,  while  the  beautiful  Sicilian  shores, 
spreading  far  away  westward,  have  a  noble  back- 
ground of  mountain  ranges,  with  summits  exceeding 
6,000  feet  elevation,  and  snow-covered  during  nearly 
half  the  year.  The  grand  array  of  spacious  bays 
and  picturesque  headlands,  making  this  northern 
Sicilian  coast,  stretches  from  Cape  Faro  westward 
to  the  limestone  mass  forming  the  Monte  San  Giul- 
iano,  rising  2,485  feet,  which  was  the  ancient  Eryx. 
On  the  eastern  side,  the  Messina  strait,  gradually 
broadening,  as  it  extends  southward  in  front  of  Etna, 
separates  Sicily  from  Calabria. 

At  the  entrance,  the  Strait  of  Messina  is  barely 
two  miles  wide.  The  Calabrian  shore  rises,  in  the 
background,  as  the  wild  ridge  of  Aspromonte,  culmi- 
nating in  Montalto,  6,420  feet  high.  The  impress- 
ive slopes,  well  seen  from  the  opposite  Sicilian  coast, 
are  overgrown  with  pines  and  beeches,  this  extremity 
of  the  toe  of  Italy  having  almost  barren  rocky  sum- 
mits, snow-capped  during  much  of  the  year,  and  con- 
trasting finely  with  the  semi-tropical  luxuriance  of 
the  lower  foreground.  The  northern  entrance  to  the 


SCYLLA  AND  CHARYBDIS  531 

Messina  Strait  is  almost  entirely  concealed.  On  the 
huge  toe  of  Italy,  there  is  projected  a  rocky  "  corn," 
which  is  the  celebrated  Scylla,  while  to  the  north- 
ward, the  opposite  coast  of  Sicily  extends  in  the 
promontory  and  Cape  of  Faro  overlapping  the  Scylla 
rock  and  hiding  the  entrance.  It  is  an  old  tradition 
that  Hannibal,  when  escaping  from  the  Romans, 
sailed  southward  for  Africa,  his  galley  having  a 
native  pilot  named  Pelorus,  who  said  he  knew  a 
channel  that  made  a  shorter  course  than  sailing 
around  Sicily.  Steering  toward  it,  Hannibal  saw 
no  opening;  the  pilot  renewed  his  assertion,  and 
sailed  closer  in  shore ;  still  there  was  no  channel  and 
apparently  only  a  landlocked  bay.  Believing  him- 
self betrayed,  and  about  to  be  put  ashore  and  deliv- 
ered to  his  enemies,  Hannibal  struck  down  the  pilot 
with  his  sword.  Then,  just  a  moment  too  late,  the 
Cape  of  Faro  was  rounded,  and  the  entrance  to  the 
strait  revealed.  This  cape  was  called  the  Promon- 
torium  Pelorum,  after  the  unfortunate  pilot.  There 
is  the  ruin  of  an  ancient  tower,  which  looks  over  at 
Scylla  on  the  opposite  toe  of  Italy,  and  this  is  tradi- 
tionally described  as  the  site  of  a  monument,  which 
the  remorseful  Hannibal  erected  to  his  memory.  In 
the  JEnead,  Helenus,  the  prophet,  tells  ^Eneas  of 
Scylla  and  Charybdis: 

They  say  these  places  leapt  apart  of  old, 

Rent  by  the  force  of  huge  catastrophe  — 

Such  power  to  change  doth  times  long  old  possess  — 


532  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

When,  end  to  end,  each  land  was  only  one, 
The  sea  with  forceful  might  athwart  it  came, 
And  severed  with  its  waves  the  Hesperian  side 
From  Sicily,  and  washed  with  narrow  tide, 
'Twixt  fields  and  towns   apart  on  either  shore. 
Upon  the  right  hand  Scylla  sits  on  guard; 
Insatiate  Charybdis  on  the  left; 
Who  daily  thrice  in  her  deep  whirlpool  pit 
Sucks  the  vast  billows  to  a  sheer  abyss, 
And  rears  them  high  aloft  by  turns  again, 
And  smites  the  constellations  with  the  spray. 

Scylla  is  a  bold  headland,  two  hundred  feet  high, 
the  rocks  at  the  base  being  deeply  scooped  out  by  the 
action  of  the  waves,  and  it  is  crowned  by  the  ruined 
castle  dominating  the  modern  town,  noted  for  its 
product  of  silks  and  wines,  and  has  the  mournful 
memory  of  the  earthquakes  of  February,  1783  and  of 
December,  1908,  each  of  which  almost  destroyed  it. 
The  whirlpool  and  currents,  at  the  strait  entrance, 
were  always  dreaded  by  the  ancient  navigators,  but 
they  have  given  little  fear  in  modern  times.  The 
Scylla  rock  and  the  Charybdis  whirlpool  were  fa- 
mous, though  the  actual  location  of  the  latter  is  not 
known,  but  is  believed  to  have  been  the  Garafolo 
current,  seven  miles  to  the  southward,  off  the  Mes- 
sina harbor  "  sickle,"  there  thrust  out  into  the  strait. 
In  the  Grecian  mythology,  Charybdis  and  Scylla 
were  two  voracious  monsters,  dwelling  opposite  each 
other.  Charybdis  occupied  a  rock  on  the  Sicilian 
shore,  and  thrice  every  day  gulped  down  the  waters 
of  the  surrounding  sea,  and  thrice  cast  them  up 


SCYLLA  AND  CHARYBDIS  533 

again.  Scylla,  whose  den  was  on  the  Calabrian 
shore,  was  represented  as  a  beautiful  virgin  above, 
but  a  terrible  monster  below,  having  a  wolf's  body 
and  a  dolphin's  tail.  It  had  twelve  feet  and  six 
long  necks  and  mouths,  each  of  which  took  a  victim 
from  every  ship  passing  within  reach.  Homer  in 
the  Odyssey  tells  of  these  monsters,  and  the  fears  of 
the  ancient  mariners.  But  the  modern  sailor 
traverses  this  great  highway  of  commerce  undaunted. 
From  the  mountain  chains  adjoining  its  northern 
coast,  the  surface  of  Sicily  is  generally  an  elevated 
tableland,  cut  into  by  broad  and  shallow  valleys, 
sloping  down  to  the  Mare  Africanus  off  the  southern 
shore,  which  stretches  in  almost  a  straight  line  from 
northwest  to  southeast,  and  has  neither  promontories 
nor  good  natural  harbors.  The  geologists  say  the  is- 
land, in  early  times,  was  here  connected  by  a  flat 
tableland,  with  the  present  African  coast  of  Tunis, 
having  been  afterward  separated  as  the  result  of 
some  convulsion,  the  interposed  sea  being  shallow, 
and  having  various  islands  rising  from  it.  Tunis 
is  but  ninety-five  miles  away,  and  the  dim  outline 
of  the  Atlas  mountains  can  be  traced  over  there  in 
clear  weather.  The  prehistoric  races  inhabiting 
Sicily,  seem  to  have  become  solidified  into  a  people 
known  as  the  Sicani,  who  were  superseded,  at  least 
ten  centuries  before  the  Christian  era,  on  the  eastern 
shores  of  the  island,  by  the  Sikeli,  coming  from  the 
mainland  of  Europe,  the  others  retiring  westward. 


534  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

Then  the  Elymi,  supposed  to  be  descended  from  the 
Trojans,  and  the  Phoenicians,  arrived  and  founded 
colonies,  the  Elymi  having  their  sanctuary  of  Aphro- 
dite upon  Eryx.  The  Greeks  came  upon  the  coast 
of  the  Messina  Strait  735  B.  C.,  founding  Naxos, 
closely  followed  by  settlements  at  Syracuse,  Zancle 
(near  Messina),  Catania,  and  elsewhere  on  the  strait. 
Later,  Greek  settlements  were  made  all  around  the 
island,  and  in  the  fifth  century  B.  C.,  the  Cartha- 
ginians appeared  in  the  west,  producing  many  con- 
tests, which  ultimately,  in  the  third  century  B.  C., 
brought  in  the  Romans,  who  got  full  possession  210 
B.  C.,  and  made  it  a  province.  St.  Paul  landed  at 
Syracuse  when  on  his  journey  to  Rome,  and  Chris- 
tianity prevailed  generally  in  the  third  century  A.  D. 
The  barbarians  came,  and  then  the  Moors,  the  latter 
in  the  ninth  century,  and  holding  sway  until  the 
Normans  appeared  in  the  eleventh  century,  under 
Robert  and  Roger  de  Hauteville,  the  former  being 
surnamed  Le  Guiscard  or  "  the  shrewd."  Their 
line  became  the  sovereigns  of  Sicily,  and  in  the 
thirteenth  century,  the  island  went  to  the  House  of 
Aragon,  united  ultimately  with  Spain  and  Naples, 
followed  by  the  kingdom  of  the  Two  Sicilies,  and  in 
1860  becoming  part  of  the  Kingdom  of  Italy. 

THE   LAND    OF   EARTHQUAKES. 

We  have  come  into  a  region  of  dense  population 
and  frequent  earthquakes.     The  Messina  Strait  has 


THE  LAND  OF  EARTHQUAKES  535 

most  beautiful  shores,  yet  it  is  directly  upon  the  line 
of  contact  of  the  primary  and  secondary  geological 
formations,  between  Vesuvius  and  Etna.  But, 
despite  the  earthquakes,  the  people  have  remained, 
cultivating  the  fertile  soils,  with  their  fruits  and 
vines,  in  all  the  primitive  ways  of  their  remote  an- 
cestry. The  men  and  women,  alike,  dig  the  fields 
with  peculiar  long-handled  spades,  the  laboring  force 
standing  in  a  line  so  as  to  make  a  furrow  and  ridge 
of  the  turned-over  soil,  the  same  as  is  done  by  a 
plough  in  most  other  lands.  These  people  have  al- 
ways lived  in  dread  of  seismic  upheavals,  which  have 
repeatedly  ravaged  both  sides  of  the  strait.  In  Sep- 
tember, 1692,  some  four  hundred  towns  and  villages 
of  Sicily  were  engulfed,  and  a  hundred  thousand 
lives  lost.  In  1783,  another  earthquake  ravaged 
both  sides  of  the  strait,  and  almost  entirely  destroyed 
Messina,  and  every  other  city  and  village  on  its 
shores.  There  were  no  less  than  seven  earthquakes 
during  the  nineteenth  century,  and  most  of  them 
with  frightful  results.  On  September  8,  1905, 
Calabria  was  again  shaken,  premonitory  warnings 
having  been  given  by  Vesuvius  and  Stromboli  as 
early  as  August  30,  when  both  burst  out  in  unusual 
eruption,  the  subsequent  earthquake  destroying  many 
villages  and  thousands  of  lives,  and  resulting  in  the 
formation  of  a  new  volcano  near  Montalto.  Again 
an  earthquake  came  to  the  neighborhood  of  Eeggio, 
across  the  strait  from  Messina,  on  October  23,  1907, 


536  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

and  destroyed  a  thousand  lives.  But  the  crowning 
cataclysm  of  all  was  the  earthquake  of  December  28, 
1908,  destroying  Messina,  Reggio  and  a  score  of 
other  towns  on  both  sides  of  the  strait,  and  killing 
nearly  two  hundred  thousand  people,  the  greatest 
earthquake  the  world  has  ever  known. 

About  seven  miles  southward  from  Cape  Faro 
on  the  Sicilian  shore,  is  Messina,  and  Reggio  is  op- 
posite, a  little  farther  south.  A  peculiar  elbow-like 
and  low-lying  tongue  of  rock  juts  out  in  front  of 
Messina,  enclosing  a  rounded  bay,  and  looking  al- 
most as  if  it  had  been  built  by  human  hands,  as  a 
breakwater  for  a  spacious  harbor.  The  Sikeli  set- 
tled here,  and  it  was  natural  that  the  roving  Greeks, 
many  being  pirates,  who  early  sailed  the  strait, 
should  have  selected  it  for  a  colony.  The  rocky 
tongue  enclosing  the  harbor,  which  is  one  of  the  best 
in  the  world,  was  known  as  the  Zancle,  or  "  sickle," 
from  its  peculiar  shape.  On  this  "  sickle,"  also 
known  as  "  St.  Raniero's  Arm,"  grew  the  town,  and 
it  was  covered  before  the  earthquake  with  ware- 
houses, offices  and  other  buildings,  having  on  the 
extreme  end  the  old-time  terminal  citadel  and  light- 
house. The  settlement  spread  over  the  inner  shores 
of  the  harbor,  which  are  splendidly  encircled  by  a 
grand  amphitheatre  of  rugged  peaks.  There  were  a 
hundred  thousand  people  in  this  busy  port  of  Mes- 
sina, and  its  trade  extended  to  all  parts  of  the  world. 
But  its  history  is  full  of  calamities,  arising  from 


THE  LAND  OF  EARTHQUAKES  537 

war,  pestilence,  volcanic  eruptions  and  earthquakes, 
so  that  the  relics  of  antiquity  were  few,  though  the 
environment  is  most  charming.  On  the  approach, 
the  white  walls  of  the  houses  looked  bright  and 
dazzling  in  the  sunshine;  while  southwestward,  in 
the  distance,  rises  the  giant  volcano,  Etna,  the  high- 
est in  Europe,  with  the  attendant  cloud  of  smoke, 
gathering  above  the  crater  at  the  summit  of  the  noble 
cone,  and  carried  away  lightly  by  the  wind. 

The  dawn  of  history  in  Messina  was  in  the  eighth 
century  B.  C.,  when  the  Greek  and  Chalcidian  pi- 
rates came  along,  and  found  the  Sikelian  settle- 
ment of  the  Zancle,  which  they  occupied.  It  had 
all  sorts  of  masters  afterward,  and  attracted  many 
Messanians  from  the  Peloponnesus,  so  that  ulti- 
mately they  preponderated,  and  it  thus  got  the  name 
of  Messana.  The  Carthaginians  then  appeared 
upon  the  scene,  captured  and  destroyed  the  town, 
and  after  two  centuries  of  war  and  comparative  ruin, 
the  Romans  came  by  invitation  of  the  Mamartines, 
or  "  Sons  of  Mars,"  who  had  held  it  until  Hannibal 
captured  the  castle,  and  this  call  for  help  began  the 
first  Punic  War.  The  Roman  possession  was  se- 
cured in  the  third  century  B.  C.,  and  they  held  it 
until  the  fall  of  the  Empire.  The  Saracens  got  con- 
trol in  842,  and  the  Crusaders  in  their  journeyings 
to  the  East,  passing  through  the  Messina  Strait,  so 
valued  the  harbor  that  it  led  to  the  Norman  occupa- 
tion, with  great  resulting  prosperity.  For  five 


538  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

centuries  afterward  Messina  was  a  practically  inde- 
pendent city  with  high  privileges.  In  the  sixteenth 
century  Charles  V  presented  many  gifts,  in  memory 
of  which  a  street  was  named  after  his  son,  Don  John 
of  Austria,  on  his  return  from  the  victory  of  Lepanto 
over  the  Turks,  John's  statue  erected  in  1572  being 
among  the  civic  adornments.  Then  there  were  quar- 
rels between  the  aristocrats  and  the  citizens,  which 
resulted  in  the  downfall  of  the  privileges  of  the  citi- 
zens after  a  long  strife,  an  attack  by  the  French  in 
the  late  seventeenth  century,  and  conflicts  that  re- 
duced the  population  from  120,000  to  about  one- 
tenth  the  number.  The  citadel  was  erected  at  that 
time  to  control  the  town,  but  the  prosperity  of  the 
place  disappeared.  It  had  subsequent  calamities 
from  the  plague  of  1740,  killing  40,000  people,  the 
earthquake  of  1783,  which  almost  entirely  destroyed 
it,  the  bombardment  of  four  days  in  September, 
1848,  the  visitation  of  cholera  in  1854,  with  six- 
teen thousand  victims,  another  destructive  earth- 
quake in  1894,  with  a  less  violent  shock  in  1905, 
and  the  final  disaster  of  1908. 

The  Messina  Cathedral,  called  La  Matrice,  was 
a  Norman  construction,  begun  in  the  eleventh  cen- 
tury and  completed  under  King  Roger  II.  Fires 
had  burnt  and  earthquakes  damaged  it,  so  that  little 
remained  of  the  original  building.  It  was  a  Latin 
cross  three  hundred  feet  long  and  one  hundred  and 
forty-five  feet  wide  across  the  transepts,  the  facade 


THE  LAND  OF  EARTHQUAKES  539 

being  early  Gothic.  In  the  interior,  twenty-six 
granite  columns  supported  the  roof,  and  are  said  to 
have  been  brought  from  a  temple  of  Neptune,  once 
standing  on  the  Faro,  at  the  entrance  to  the  Messina 
Strait.  This  cathedral  is  the  shrine  of  Madonna 
della  Lettera,  referring  to  a  celebrated  epistle  said 
to  have  been  sent  to  the  people  by  the  Virgin  Mary, 
and  brought  by  St.  Paul  in  the  year  42.  The  faith- 
ful believe  that  this  epistle  is  kept  in  a  receptacle  in 
the  High  Altar,  and  in  its  honor  there  is  held  a  great 
festival  June  3d.  This  altar,  built  in  1628,  was 
richly  decorated,  and  then  cost  about  $950,000.  A 
Papal  investigation,  however,  has  shown  that  this 
epistle,  with  other  alleged  sacred  documents,  were 
forgeries  of  the  fifteenth  century.  There  are 
sarcophagi  of  the  Emperor  Conrad  IV  and  of  Al- 
fonso the  Generous,  who  died  in  1458.  The  cathe- 
dral had  various  mosaics,  and  the  pedestal  support- 
ing the  vessel  containing  holy  water  at  an  entrance 
to  the  nave,  was  an  ancient  Greek  work,  with  an 
inscription  showing  that  it  bore  a  votive  offering 
to  Esculapius  and  Hygeia,  then  the  patrons  of  the 
town.  A  splendid  fountain  of  the  sixteenth  century 
stood  on  the  piazza  fronting  the  cathedral.  Messina 
had  many  other  churches.  The  oldest  Norman 
church,  the  Annunziata  dei  Catalani,  was  near  the 
cathedral,  a  temple  of  Neptune  having  been  origin- 
ally upon  the  site,  and  Afterward  a  mosque.  In  the 
modern  church  of  Santa  Xaddalena,  during  the  revo- 


540  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

lution  of  1848,  a  bloody  battle  was  fought  between 
the  populace  and  the  invading  Swiss  troops,  when 
the  town  was  bombarded  by  King  Ferdinand 
(Bomba)  of  Naples.  In  the  Church  of  St.  Agostino 
was  a  painting  of  the  Madonna,  its  legend  being  that 
angels  brought  it  hither,  across  land  and  sea,  from 
Scutari,  at  Constantinople.  Behind  the  city  the  en- 
closing mountain  amphitheatre  rises  into  Monte 
Antennamare,  elevated  3,705  feet,  and  giving  a 
grand  view  over  the  ruined  city,  harbor,  and  the 
gleaming  strait,  to  the  mountainous  Calabrian  shore 
beyond.  Over  there  is  Reggio,  also  partly  mined, 
and  almost  as  ancient  as  Messina,  whose  colonists 
originally  settled  it  in  the  eighth  century  B.  C.  It 
was  the  Roman  Rhegium,  was  rebuilt  after  the  de- 
structive earthquake  of  1783,  and  when  the  disaster 
of  1908  came,  it  had  about  18,000  inhabitants,  and 
was  a  most  attractive  place,  its  broad  and  handsome 
streets  extending  from  the  sea  to  the  beautiful  hills 
in  the  rear,  which  displayed  many  fine  villas. 

THE  WORLD'S  GREATEST  TRAGEDY. 

The  greatest  earthquake  on  record,  coming  with- 
out premonition,  Monday  morning,  December  28, 
1908,  began  at  5  :20  o'clock,  long  before  daylight,  and 
when  most  of  the  population  were  asleep.  It  was 
a  sudden,  and  at  first  upward,  then  horizontal,  vio- 
lent shock,  continuing  less*  than  a  half  minute, 
throwing  down  the  buildings,  the  ground  splitting 


THE  WORLD'S  GREATEST  TRAGEDY  541 

open  in  many  places,  with  fissures  into  which  many 
houses  fell.  A  few  minutes  later  came  other  shocks, 
fourteen  being  counted  in  about  forty  minutes,  and 
the  resultant  vibrations  continued  at  intervals  during 
about  four  hours.  The  sensation  experienced  by 
survivors  was,  that  the  ground  surface  appeared  to 
be  thrust  upward  by  the  first  great  shock,  while  at 
about  the  same  time  the  bottom  of  the  Messina  strait 
seemed  to  rise.  The  latter  produced  an  initial  rush 
of  waters,  quickly  followed  by  a  great  tidal  wave  or 
outrush,  that  swept  the  shores  of  the  strait,  and 
the  monster  wave  rising  thirty-five  to  forty  feet,  and 
with  resistless  force,  dashing  over  all  the  lower  por- 
tions of  the  banks,  bounding  up  the  streets,  and 
overflowing  the  land  to  a  distance  of  one  to  two 
thousand  feet,  according  to  the  elevations.  This 
wave  receded,  and  then  came  on  again,  the  ebb  and 
flow  of  these  tidal  avalanches,  being  counted  four 
times  during  the  next  half  hour,  after  which  the 
oscillations  continued,  though  with  decreasing  force. 
Other  earthquake  shocks  and  vibrations  occurred  at 
intervals  for  several  weeks,  over  sixty  shocks  coming 
in  ten  days,  and  about  three  hundred  during  Janu- 
ary, some  being  quite  severe  and  causing  further 
destruction  to  the  ruined  buildings. 

The  damage,  however,  was  done  in  less  than  a 
minute,  the  sudden  thrust  along  the  land  surface, 
together  with  the  breaking  up  of  the  falling  build- 
ings, creating  enormous  clouds  of  dense  and  choking 


542  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

dust,  which  long  hung  over  the  ruined  cities,  and 
obscured  the  entire  region.  The  chief  destruction 
was  in  the  strait  and  along  its  shores  at  Messina, 
Reggio  and  the  adjacent  towns  and  villages.  The 
serious  ruin  spread  for  forty  miles,  from  Castroreale 
in  Sicily  southwest  of  Messina,  northeast  to  Palmi 
on  the  coast  of  Calabria,  and  back  for  several  miles 
from  the  coasts.  Damage  was  done  from  Riposto 
under  the  shadow  of  Mount  Etna  in  Sicily,  northeast 
up  to  Pizzo  in  Calabria,  a  distance  of  eighty-six 
miles,  while  for  fifty  miles  off  in  every  direction,  the 
earthquake  shocks  were  strongly  felt.  The  survivors 
say  there  were  most  violent  lateral  motions  and 
thrusts,  which  split  open  the  buildings  and  threw 
down  the  walls,  and  when  trying  to  escape,  the  re- 
peated vibrations  shook  them  off  their  feet.  Deafen- 
ing noises  accompanied  the  destruction.  Messina 
was  destroyed  for  over  two  miles  along  the  shore,  and 
a  mile  back,  up  the  adjacent  slopes.  The  sea  wall 
fronting  the  city  was  broken  up,  and  with  the  prome- 
nade, has  largely  fallen,  apparently  being  sucked 
into  the  strait  and  sunken  under  water.  Debris 
from  the  ruined  buildings  buried  the  people  and 
filled  the  streets,  fires  almost  immediately  beginning, 
some  continuing  nearly  a  week.  Similarly,  Eeggio 
was  thrown  down,  the  first  great  shock  opening  a 
chasm  eighty  feet  wide  near  the  railway  station, 
whence  gushed  forth  steam  and  boiling  water,  some 
jets  thrown  as  high  as  an  ordinary  house,  and  scald- 


THE  WORLD'S  GREATEST  TRAGEDY  543 

ing  a  number  of  frightened  people.  The  tidal  waves 
added  to  the  destruction,  along  the  sea  fronts  and  on 
the  lower  slopes.  Over  five  hundred  vessels  were 
destroyed  or  damaged.  Torrents  of  rain  followed, 
continuing  intermittently  during  four  days.  Flocks 
of  crows  and  ravens  soon  came  to  the  stricken  dis- 
trict, attracted  by  instinct  to  the  scene  of  terrible 
destruction. 

An  officer  upon  a  vessel  in  the  harbor,  described 
the  tidal  wave  as  a  fearful  upheaval  of  the  waters, 
which  seemed  to  rise  like  a  mountain  and  rush  to- 
ward the  shore,  where  there  had  been  noises,  at  first 
like  the  growling  of  distant  thunder,  followed  by 
loud  reverberations,  caused  by  the  apparent  rending 
of  rocks  and  falling  of  buildings,  and  as  if  enormous 
quantities  of  loose  stones  were  sliding  down  hill. 
The  lights  everywhere  had  gone  out,  and  the  dark- 
ness became  oppressive.  The  agitated  sea  seemed 
to  grow  livid  and  then  white  with  foam,  carrying 
everything  with  a  wild  rush  toward  shore,  the  ship's 
decks  keeling  over.  By  the  time  the  crest  of  the 
wave  had  passed,  occasional  fires  appeared  on  shore, 
and  then  everything  became  obscured  in  a  vast  eddy- 
ing cloud  of  dust  that  settled  down,  enveloping  the 
ship  like  a  fog-bank,  and  hiding  both  sea  and  shore. 
Afterward,  when  daylight  came  and  the  dust  had 
gone,  the  harbor  walls  were  seen  to  be  demolished, 
the  city  destroyed,  and  the  surface  of  the  strait  was 
covered  by  an  enormous  mass  of  wreckage,  casks, 


544  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

boxes,  broken  boats  and  timbers,  eddying  about  as 
the  agitated  waters  washed  them.  The  upheaval  of 
the  bottom  of  the  strait  was  shown  by  soundings, 
taken  between  Messina  and  Reggio  shortly  after- 
ward. Where  the  chart  had  a  depth  of  273  fath- 
oms, only  about  fifty  fathoms  were  found,  thus  in- 
dicating an  upheaval  of  over  1,300  feet,  instantly 
produced  by  the  resistless  forces  beneath. 

The  suddenness  and  completeness  of  the  destruc- 
tion gave  the  stricken  people  no  chance  of  escape,  as 
the  buildings  fell  upon  and  buried  them,  and  hence 
the  enormous  loss  of  life.  The  repeated  tidal  waves 
drowned  many  seeking  to  escape  at  the  shore.  A 
correspondent  at  Messina,  who  had  been  at  the  siege 
of  Port  Arthur,  said  that  its  bombardment  was  not 
as  ruinous  as  the  Messina  earthquake,  and  that  six 
months'  cannonade  by  all  the  artillery  in  the  world 
could  not  produce  the  results  of  the  few  seconds  of 
nature's  wrath.  Over  fifty  towns  and  villages  were 
destroyed  in  Sicily  and  Calabria.  The  work  of  res- 
cue and  succor  speedily  began,  though  it  was  in- 
effective in  many  cases,  owing  to  the  difficulty  of 
getting  victims  released  from  the  piles  of  stones  and 
rubbish  covering  and  imprisoning  them.  Warships 
from  various  nations  went  to  Messina  Strait  to  help, 
money  and  supplies  being  poured  into  Italy  from 
both  sides  of  the  Atlantic.  The  Italian  King 
Emmanuel  and  Queen  Helena  hastened  to  the  ruined 
district,  passing  several  days  in  giving  encourage- 


THE  WORLD'S  GREATEST  TRAGEDY  5  £5 

ment,  succoring  the  injured,  and  directing  helpful 
efforts.  Rescue  work  at  night  was  illumined  by  the 
searchlights  of  the  warships,  and  the  wounded  and 
destitute  were  taken  away  to  many  towns  through- 
out Sicily  and  Italy.  Cold  and  hunger  killed  many 
survivors,  and  large  numbers  became  insane.  One 
of  the  most  impressive  scenes  was  the  progress  of  the 
Archbishop,  through  the  streets  of  destroyed  Mes- 
sina, blessing  and  consecrating  the  ruins  of  build- 
ings, under  which  so  many  people  were  buried,  as 
cemeteries,  and  also  the  improvised  trenches,  into 
which  the  corpses  of  hundreds  of  unknown  dead  had 
been  placed  and  covered  with  quicklime.  But  one 
Messina  church  escaped  the  almost  complete  ruin, 
and  this  greatest  of  disasters  was  a  shock  throughout 
the  world.  The  universal  hope  was  expressed,  how- 
ever, for  a  recovery. 

Sicilia  scourged  of  Fate,  thy  Damocles 

Lost  courage  'neath  a  hair  suspended  blade, 

Though  thine  a  tyrant  death  may  not  appease, 

A  deathless  Past  intones:     "  Rise,  undismayed!  " 

Diligent  work  has  been  proceeding  for  restoring 
the  stricken  city,  but  the  recovery  is  slow.  As  the 
wreckage  is  removed,  in*  cleaning  the  streets  and 
building  sites,  vast  treasures  have  been  recovered, 
and  where  possible  restored  to  the  heirs  of  the  own- 
ers. But  the  Government  found  some  $20,000,000 
in  money,  jewelry,  securities  and  other  valuables 
for  which  no  owner  could  be  discovered. 
VOL.  1—35 


THE  MEDITERRANEAN 


MESSINA    TO    CATANIA. 

From  Messina  southward  to  Catania  is  fifty-nine 
miles  along  the  strait.  The  railway  route  crosses 
many  fiumane  or  torrents,  usually  wide  dry  beds  in 
summer,  and  passes  through  villages  ruined  by  the 
great  earthquake.  Farther  along,  the  cliffs  that 
make  the  shore  of  the  strait  are  generally  of  lava, 
and  form  the  foothills  of  Mount  Etna,  this  grand 
snow-covered  mountain,  its  base  nearly  a  hundred 
miles  in  circumference,  being  constantly  in  view. 
The  railway  goes  over  viaducts  and  through  tunnels, 
displaying  beautiful  scenery.  Twenty-two  miles 
from  Messina,  it  is  tunnelled  under  the  projecting 
Cape  of  Sant'  Alessio,  an  admirable  promontory, 
its  hills  of  yellow  limestone  and  cliffs  of  variegated 
marbles,  standing  out  boldly  in  full  view.  On  the 
top  is  a  deserted  fort,  and  nearby,  a  little  cluster  of 
white  houses  amid  the  green,  making  the  village  of 
Forza.  Beyond,  there  projects  into  the  sea,  the 
massive  Taormina  hill,  having  behind  it  the  site  of 
!N^axos,  where  the  Greeks  first  settled  upon  this  coast, 
of  which,  however,  few  traces  remain.  This  hill, 
rising  about  four  hundred  feet,  guarded  the  ancient 
Tauromanian  passes,  the  boundary  between  the  do- 
mains of  Messana  and  RTaxos. 

The  railway  bores  through  another  tunnel,  un- 
der the  cape  that  terminates  the  projecting  Taormina 
promontory,  and  then  turns  westward  around  the 


MESSINA  TO  CATANIA  547 

base  of  the  hill,  whereon  was  built  the  ancient 
Tauremenium.  It  is  now  a  village  perched  on 
cliffs  high  above  the  shore,  and  consists  mostly  of  one 
long  street,  rich  in  churches,  but  with  a  population 
that  is  very  poor.  High  above,  on  a  peninsula  at 
1,300  feet  elevation,  is  the  ruined  castle  dominating 
the  place,  that  was  the  old  time  acropolis,  founded 
by  permission  of  Dionysius  of  Syracuse,  after  he 
had  destroyed  Naxos,  403  B.  C.  Toward  the  north- 
west, the  ridge  rises  in  the  summit  of  Mola,  about 
2,100  feet,  and  beyond  in  Monte  Venere,  2,834  feet. 
These  elevations,  dotted  with  modern  villas,  afford 
remarkably  attractive  views,  especially  of  the  splen- 
did snow-covered  cone  of  Etna,  occupying  the  south- 
ern horizon,  and  of  the  many  lava  streams,  radiating 
from  its  crater,  and  spreading  far  and  wide.  Upon 
one  of  these  summits  are  the  ruins  of  the  old-time 
theatre,  the  most  interesting  relic  of  Taormina,  lo- 
cated on  the  slope  of  the  hill  east  of  the  town,  and 
commanding  a  magnificent  prospect.  The  strong 
position  of  the  place  enabled  the  town  to  long  resist 
the  attacks  of  the  Saracens,  but  they  captured  it 
with  a  general  massacre  in  902,  the  bloodthirsty 
Ibrahim-ibn  Ahmed,  who  led  them,  strangling  and 
burning  the  adherents  of  Bishop  Procopius,  upon 
his  corpse,  the  savage  Ibrahim  even  proposing  to  de- 
vour the  bishop's  heart.  The  remains  of  the  Moor- 
ish castle  are  on  another  lava  hill,  and  also  the  her- 
mitage of  Santa  Maria  della  Rocca,  which  was  built 


548  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

after  the  Normans  got  possession  in  the  eleventh 
century. 

The  theatre,  elevated  about  420  feet  above  the  sea, 
was  constructed  originally  by  the  Greeks,  but  the 
present  work  is  largely  Roman,  although  it  since 
suffered  from  Saracenic  mutilations,  and  the  carry- 
ing off  of  building  materials  and  ornaments  to  use 
elsewhere.  It  is  a  semicircle  hewn  in  the  rock,  357 
feet  in  diameter,  with  a  well-preserved  stage,  and 
provided  for  thirty  thousand  people.  Southward 
from  Taormina,  one  can  look  upon  the  site  of  Naxos 
down  by  the  coast,  founded  by  Theocles,  735  B.  C. 
It  is  now  chiefly  a  thriving  plantation  of  lemon  trees, 
along  the  edge  of  which  flows  the  little  river  Alcan- 
tara. The  special  god  of  its  early  Greek  colonists 
was  Apollo  Archagetes,  and  his  altar  stood  near  the 
river,  on  the  road  to  Taormina,  where  the  ambassa- 
dors of  the  settlement  were  accustomed  to  offer 
sacrifices,  when  leaving  for  the  festal  assemblies  of 
their  fatherland,  ancient  Greece.  Naxos  was  ruined 
more  than  twenty-three  centuries  ago,  and  then 
Taormina  rose.  Naxos  was  traversed  by  one  of  the 
Etna  lava  streams,  where  now  stands,  as  if  a  senti- 
nel of  the  long  departed  place,  the  Castello  di 
Schiso.  From  the  ruins  of  the  Taormina  theatre, 
the  visitor,  at  sunset,  gets  a  magnificent  view  of  the 
atmospheric  color  effects,  as  he  watches  the  crimson 
glow  lingering  on  snow-covered  Etna,  with  the  beau- 
tifully tinted  smokes  hanging  in  a  grand  halo  over 


MESSINA  TO  CATANIA  549 

the  mountain.  All  around  are  gorgeous  hills  and 
mountains,  stretching  off  to  the  eastern  rippling  sea, 
which  purples  in  the  twilight  that  gradually  darkens 
toward  the  horizon. 

To  the  southward,  the  route  crosses  many  more 
lava  streams,  rising  black,  brown  and  reddish  in 
rugged  form,  and  making  chains  of  rocky  hills  that 
in  some  places  swell  into  grand  crags  at  six  to  seven 
hundred  feet  from  the  seashore.  These  are  all  the 
products  of  volcanic  eruptions,  of  which  some  have 
been  comparatively  recent.  The  older  lava  forma- 
tions are  covered  with  rich  soil  produced  from  the 
disintegrated  volcanic  dust,  which  is  very  fertile, 
and  here  flourishes  the  vine  in  luxuriance,  the  lava 
supplying  the  potash  on  which  the  grape  thrives. 
One  of  these  streams,  descending  396  B.  C.,  just 
when  the  Carthaginian  general  Himilco  had  de- 
stroyed Messana,  prevented  his  going  southward  to 
Syracuse,  and  he  had  to  make  a  long  diverging  march 
around  the  western  base  of  Etna.  The  actual  base 
of  the  mountain  is  reached  at  Giarre,  and  on  its 
slopes  near  by  is  the  gigantic  chestnut  tree,  the 
Cento  Cavalli.  A  few  miles  farther  southward, 
and  built  on  several  lava  streams,  is  Aci  Reale,  nest- 
ling under  the  flanks  of  the  mountain,  noted  for  its 
medicinal  springs,  and  for  its  destruction  by  the 
earthquake  of  1693.  It  has  been  completely  re- 
stored, however,  and  has  about  twenty-five  thousand 
population. 


550  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

This  is  a  region  of  great  mythological  fame,  for 
here  was  the  scene  of  the  love  of  Acis  for  Galatea, 
and  the  interference  of  the  jealous  giant  Polyphe- 
mus. We  are  told  in  the  Grecian  mythology,  that 
the  Cyclops  were  giants,  having  but  one  circular  eye 
in  the  middle  of  the  forehead.  Homer  describes 
them,  in  the  Odyssey,  as  a  race  of  cannibal  shep- 
herds, dwelling  on  the  shores  of  Sicily,  whose  chief 
was  Polyphemus.  Some  of  these  Cyclops  were  the 
assistants  of  Vulcan,  forging  armor  and  ornaments 
for  the  gods  and  heroes,  their  workshops  being  the 
volcanoes  of  Etna  and  Lipari.  They  were  the  sons 
of  Neptune,  and  Polyphemus,  the  hugest  and  most 
desperate  of  them,  dwelt  in  a  cave  on  the  shore  near 
Etna.  The  Neriads  were  the  nymphs  of  the  Med- 
iterranean, fifty  beautiful  girls,  the  daughters  of 
Nereus  and  Doris,  and  especially  propitious  to  sail- 
ors. Their  father  was  a  benevolent,  wise  and  gentle 
old  man,  the  most  unerring  weather-prophet  of  old, 
and  he  lived  at  the  bottom  of  the  sea.  Among  the 
famous  Neriads  was  the  charming  Galatea,  who  was 
beloved  by  Acis,  the  son  of  Faunus,  but  Polyphemus, 
wild  from  jealousy,  crushed  Acis  to  death  under  a 
huge  rock.  The  mourning  Galatea  changed  his  blood 
into  the  river  Acis,  and  on  its  banks  is  the  town  of 
Aci  Reale.  Ulysses,  in  his  long  wanderings,  came 
to  the  island  of  the  Cyclops,  Sicily,  and  with  twelve 
of  his  followers,  entered  the  cave  of  Polyphemus, 
who  devoured  six  of  them.  Ulysses  then  plied  the 


MESSINA  TO  CATANIA  551 

giant  with  wine,  making  him  drunk,  put  out  his 
single  eye  with  a  burning  pole,  and  tying  himself 
and  his  surviving  companions  under  the  bodies  of 
the  sheep,  escaped  when  the  flock  was  let  out  of  the 
cave.  Polyphemus,  in  his  blindness,  hurled  rocks 
after  them,  but  they  escaped  over  the  sea,  and  then 
the  giant  implored  his  father  Neptune  to  wreak 
vengeance  on  Ulysses,  so  that  the  remainder  of  his 
voyage  was  full  of  adventure  and  disturbance. 

Down  along  the  shore,  and  on  the  sea,  are  the 
Cyclopean  rocks,  enormous  isolated  lumps  of  lava. 
There  are  seven  of  these  in  the  sea,  known  as  the 
Faraglioni,  the  rocks  which  the  blinded  Polyphemus 
hurled  after  the  crafty  Ulysses.  Isole  d'  Aci,  the 
largest,  is  the  most  picturesque,  covering  about  four 
acres,  and  rising  into  a  conical  summit,  elevated 
nearly  three  hundred  feet.  It  is  built  of  columnar 
basalt  and  limestone.  On  one  of  the  most  prominent 
Cyclopean  rocks,  on  the  mainland,  is  the  Castello 
d'  Aci,  the  picturesque  ruined  castle  upon  its  pin- 
nacle having  been  the  scene  of  various  sieges.  This 
rock  of  Aci  Castello,  is  said  by  tradition  to  be  the 
identical  one  with  which  Polyphemus  crushed  Acis. 
The  name  of  Aci  is  given  to  a  dozen  villages  all 
about,  which  claim  to  stand  in  the  identical  grove 
where  Acis  and  Galatea  told  their  mutual  loves,  and 
raised  the  violent  jealousy  of  the  one-eyed  giant, 
who,  according  to  the  later  matter-of-fact  investiga- 
tions of  these  myths,  was  really  Mount  Etna,  and  his 


552  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

single  eye,  the  volcanic  crater.  The  cool  waters  of 
the  "  harbifer  Acis  "  of  Ovid,  the  brook  into  which 
the  swain's  blood  was  converted,  pour  out  from 
under  a  lava  bed  near  by,  and  now  known  as  the 
Acqua  Grande,  flow  about  a  mile  down  to  the  sea. 
The  lava  streams  on  which  Aci  Reale  is  built,  rep- 
resent seven  different  eruptions,  and  flowing  one 
over  the  other  make  a  black,  cinder-like  precipice, 
more  than  fifty  feet  high,  into  which  a  staircase  is 
cut  leading  to  the  town.  For  nine  miles  from 
Aci  Reale  to  Catania,  the  route  crosses  the  rugged 
ridges  of  various  lava  streams,  that  have  come  down 
from  Etna  to  the  coast,  some  of  them  terminating 
in  bays  between  the  cliffs,  which  they  have  partially 
filled  up,  and  displaying  most  strikingly  their 
strange,  broken,  craggy,  formation.  Upon  the  sur- 
face they  look  much  like  a  black  glacier,  or  a 
tempestuous  ocean,  suddenly  stilled  and  solidified. 
Everywhere  are  dreary  dark  broken  billows  of 
spongy  tufa,  with  lighter  streaks  and  patches,  sud- 
denly changing,  on  the  eastern  side,  to  the  deep  blue 
sea,  and  inland  merging  gradually  into  the  splendid 
fertility  of  the  highly  cultivated  flanks  of  Etna. 
Here  are  displayed  all  the  climates  of  Europe  in  one 
view,  with  their  characteristic  vegetations  on  the 
varying  elevations  of  the  mountain  slopes. 

Catania,  nestling  under  the  shadow  of  Etna,  is 
located  about  midway  on  the  eastern  Sicilian  coast, 
and  has  nearly  120,000  people,  being  next  to  Pa- 


MESSINA  TO  CATANIA  553 

lermo  the  most  populous  city  of  Sicily.  It  enjoys  a 
good  trade,  but  is  not  very  attractive  to  visitors,  its 
antiquities  being  rather  uninteresting,  although  it  is 
among  the  most  ancient  of  the  early  Greek  settle- 
ments, the  Chalcidians  having  founded  Catania 
about  five  years  after  Naxos.  Its  great  charm  is  the 
view  of  the  magnificent  proportions  of  Etna,  rising 
to  the  northward  of  the  city.  The  ancient  theatre, 
constructed  by  the  Greeks  and  enlarged  by  the 
Romans,  has  been  almost  entirely  overwhelmed  by 
lava  streams,  and  while  there  are  considerable 
excavations,  the  present  exploration  is  done  chiefly 
by  torchlight  underground.  Its  diameter  is  about 
three  hundred  and  *twenty  feet.  It  was  here  that 
Alcibiades,  by  his  impassioned  oratory,  415  B.  C., 
induced  the  Catanians  to  enter  the  league  with 
Athens  against  Syracuse.  The  city  became  the 
Athenian  headquarters  in  that  great  war,  but  Syra- 
cuse ultimately  conquered,  and  Dionysius  reduced 
the  people  to  slavery.  Carthage  afterward  held 
Catania,  then  Rome,  the  Goths  and  Saracens  suc- 
cessively, and  finally  the  Normans,  it  subsequently 
following  the  fortunes  of  Sicily.  The  guardian 
volcano  has  frequently  treated  it  badly.  In  1169, 
the  city  was  almost  entirely  destroyed  by  an  earth- 
quake accompanying  an  eruption.  March  8,  1669, 
another  eruption  came,  upheaving  Monti  Rossi, 
northwest  of  the  city,  an  outpost  of  Etna,  and 
destroying  Nicolosi,  on  its  slope,  about  ten  miles 


554  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

from  Catania.  A  loud  explosion  was  heard,  and 
a  chasm  about  six  feet  wide  and  of  unknown  depth, 
suddenly  opened  on  the  mountain  side,  and  extended 
up  to  within  a  mile  of  the  summit,  being  fully 
twelve  miles  long.  This  was  followed  by  the  open- 
ing of  five  other  fissures,  all  emitting  a  great  light 
and  pouring  out  sulphurous  steam  and  smoke,  with 
a  noise  that  was  heard  for  forty  miles.  The  side 
of  Etna  was  thus  bodily  split  by  the  resistless  in- 
ternal pressure,  and  the  liquid  contents  burst  out, 
first  filling  up  the  long  and  narrow  fissures,  and  then 
pouring  down  the  slope  in  a  stream  twenty-five  feet 
wide,  which  flowed  directly  toward  Catania,  and 
overwhelmed  fourteen  villages  oft  the  way.  The  in- 
habitants, brave  even  in  despair,  built  a  wall  sixty 
feet  high,  to  check  its  progress,  but  this  the  lava 
banked  up  against  and  overflowed,  pouring  in  a 
viscous  fiery  cascade  over  the  top.  Then  they  went 
out  in  procession,  headed  by  the  bishop,  and  ex- 
tended their  most  precious  relic,  the  veil  of  their 
patron  St.  Agatha,  toward  the  fiery  foe;  when  the 
stream  was  miraculously  diverted,  going  around  the 
western  side  of  a  Benedictine  monastery.  After  a 
journey  of  fourteen  miles,  the  red-hot  lava  reached 
the  harbor  southwest  of  the  city,  and  flowed  into 
the  water,  hissing,  boiling  and  steaming,  for  three 
miles  further.  Over  the  seething  waves,  the  masses 
of  lava  were  rolled,  and  the  blackened  river,  solidi- 
fied, now  stands  a  grim  promontory  nearly  two 


MESSINA  TO  CATANIA  555 

thousand  feet  wide  and  forty  feet  deep,  projecting 
three  miles  from  the  ancient  quay  walls,  which 
still  remain  imbedded  in  the  lava.  Another  earth- 
quake and  eruption  in  1693  entirely  overwhelmed 
the  city,  and  the  present  Catania  has  been  erected 
upon  the  ruins.  The  great  earthquake  of  Decem- 
ber, 1908,  which  destroyed  Messina  and  Reggio, 
spared  Catania,  the  townsfolk  being  convinced  that 
this  deliverance  came  through  the  intercession  of 
St.  Agatha.  Some  of  them  declare  that  after  the 
earthquake,  her  apparition  appeared  on  the  summit 
of  Mount  Etna,  looking  like  "  an  angelic  dream." 
For  many  days  afterward,  groups  of  the  people 
closely  watched  the  glittering  snowclad  summit  for 
her  reappearance. 

St.  Agatha,  the  patron  saint  of  Catania,  has  her 
shrine  in  the  Duomo  or  Cathedral.  She  was  a 
Christian  maiden,  cruelly  murdered  in  the  third 
century,  by  the  Roman  praetor  Quintianus.  Her 
relics  are  in  a  chapel,  and  Richard  Cceur  de  Lion 
presented  her  gorgeous  crown.  The  silver  sarcoph- 
agus containing  her  remains,  is  borne  through  the 
city  on  her  festival  day,  in  February,  by  men  wear- 
ing white  robes,  the  Catanian  Senate  accompanying, 
while  all  the  women  then  cover  their  faces,  so  that 
only  one  eye  is  visible.  In  the  cathedral  is  also 
the  monument  of  Bellini,  the  composer,  born  here 
in  1802,  who  died  at  the  early  age  of  33,  a  towns- 
man of  whom  the  Catanians  are  very  proud.  The 


556  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

cathedral  was  begun  by  King  Roger,  in  the  eleventh 
century,  but  was  destroyed  by  the  earthquake  of 
1169,  so  that  little  remains  of  the  original  structure. 
Most  of  the  materials  were  taken  from  the  ancient 
theatre,  the  granite  columns  of  the  fagade  still 
standing.  Earthquakes  have  made  sad  havoc  in  the 
cathedral  at  various  times,  and  among  its  frescoes 
is  a  representation  of  the  terrible  eruption  of 
Etna  in  March,  1669.  On  the  piazza  in  front,  is 
a  fountain,  having  an  Egyptian  obelisk  of  granite, 
borne  by  an  antique  elephant  carved  in  lava,  the 
latter  a  Roman  work.  Northwest  of  the  cathedral  is 
the  extensive  Benedictine  Monastery  of  San  Nicola, 
now  a  barracks  and  school,  with  a  museum  and 
observatory.  The  latter  is  surmounted  by  a  huge 
dome,  which  makes  a  fine  vista  view,  along  the  new 
street  opened  westward  to  the  railroad  station  near 
the  sea,  which  the  Catanians  have  named  the  Via 
Lincoln.  This  street  crosses  the  lava  stream  of 
1669.  At  right  angles  is  constructed,  from  the 
cathedral  northward,  the  Via  Stesicoro  Etnea, 
directly  toward  the  mountain,  of  which  it  also  gives 
a  grand  vista  view.  The  street  broadens  at  the 
Piazza  Stesicoro,  northward  of  the  Via  Lincoln, 
and  here  is  the  elaborate  monument  to  Bellini, 
erected  in  1882,  adorned  with  the  sitting  statue  of 
the  famous  composer,  and  having  on  the  pedestal 
figures  emblematic  of  his  famous  operas,  Norma, 
Puritani,  Pirata  and  Sonnambula. 


MOUNT  ETNA  557 

MOUNT    ETNA. 

The  loftiest  volcano  in  Europe,  and  the  highest 
mountain  of  Italy  south  of  the  Alps,  is  not  known 
by  the  people  who  live  near  it  under  the  name  given 
by  the  rest  of  the  world.  They  call  it  II  Monte  and 
Mongibello,  the  latter  being  the  Sicilian  title,  com- 
pounded from  the  word  monte  and  the  Arabic  term 
for  mountain,  jebel.  The  name  Etna  means  "  to 
burn,"  and  is  derived  from  a  Greek  word.  It  is  ele- 
vated 10,742  feet,  snow-covered,  and  is  seen  most 
nobly  in  the  view  from  every  direction,  the  smoke 
cloud  rising  in  the  calm  atmosphere,  or  curling  off  as 
it  may  be  blown  by  the  wind,  being  visible  in  clear 
weather  a  hundred  miles  away.  Etna  has  been 
a  volcano  from  prehistoric  times.  The  ancients 
called  it  the  forge  of  Vulcan,  and  they  said  the 
restless  giant  Enceladus,  imprisoned  beneath,  made 
the  eruptions  and  earthquakes.  A  violent  outbreak, 
before  the  arrival  of  the  Greeks,  caused  the 
Sicanians  to  abandon  the  district.  Pindar,  who 
called  it  the  "Mother  of  the  Snows,"  and  the 
"  Pillar  of  Heaven,"  described  an  eruption  476 
B.  C.  To  the  Moors  it  was  Jebel  Hathamet,  the 
"  Mount  of  Fire."  There  have  been  about  eighty 
eruptions  during  historic  times,  of  which  that  of 
1669,  above  referred  to,  upheaved  Monti  Eossi  to 
the  southward  and  destroyed  twenty  thousand  lives, 
while  the  eruption  and  earthquake  of  1693  destroyed 


558  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

forty  villages  and  towns  and  a  hundred  thousand 
people.  There  were  five  violent  eruptions,  and 
other  weaker  ones,  in  the  nineteenth  century.  In 
May,  1886  an  eruption  came  which  had  been  for 
three  years  threatening,  a  new  crater  being  formed 
on  the  southern  slope,  since  called  Monte  Gemmelaro, 
near  Nicolosi.  The  lava  streams  poured  in  the 
direction  of  that  town,  the  terror-stricken  inhabi- 
tants bearing  the  pictures  of  the  saints,  from  the 
churches,  in  a  supplicating  procession,  while  the 
Bishop  of  Catania  also  brought  out  and  solemnly 
displayed  the  veil  of  St.  Agatha.  The  lava  stream 
reached  the  Altazelli,  a  building  dedicated  to  the 
village  patron  saints,  situated  about  a  mile  above 
it  on  an  eminence,  and  the  stream,  three  days  later, 
was  divided  at  the  hill,  going  on  either  side  and 
slackening  its  flow.  Another  stream  came  along 
shortly  afterward,  and  after  the  people  had  left  the 
village,  it  halted  its  flow  when  within  about  twelve 
hundred  feet  of  the  outlying  houses,  the  eruption 
ending  with  an  earthquake.  A  later  eruption,  in 
July,  1892,  opened  a  new  crater  in  Monte  Gem- 
melaro, and  the  lava  flowed  southward,  at  a  velocity 
of  five  hundred  feet  an  hour,  toward  the  apparently 
doomed  Nicolosi.  But  the  interposition  of  the 
saints  was  again  invoked,  and  the  cooling  lava 
slackened  its  speed  to  thirty  feet  an  hour,  and  ulti- 
mately halted  before  reaching  the  village.  In 
May,  1908,  and  in  March,  1910,  there  were  earth- 


MOUNT  ETNA  559 

quakes  and  eruptions,  new  craters  opening  on  the 
mountain  sides,  ejecting  clouds  of  steam,  and  ashes 
and  stones,  that  fell  upon  Aci  Eeale  and  Mcolosi, 
with  lava  streams,  but  these  outbreaks  ceased  without 
inflicting  serious  damage. 

The  fertility  of  the  soil  on  the  lower  slopes  of 
Etna,  has  made  this  dangerous  region  the  home  of 
a  dense  population.  The  orange,  chiefly  the  blood 
orange,  grows  on  the  mountain  flanks,  up  to  an 
elevation  of  about  one  thousand  feet,  there  being 
only  a  scant  water  supply  at  greater  heights. 
Nearly  every  tree  of  the  luxuriant  plantations, 
however,  has  had .  the  lava  hewn  out  to  get  a  foot- 
hold. The  olive  flourishes  to  an  elevation  of  three 
thousand  feet.  The  vine,  is  the  chief  cultivation, 
especially  on  the  southern  and  eastern  slopes, 
facing  toward  the  sun.  There  are  three  distinct 
zones  of  vegetation.  The  lower,  or  Regione  Colti- 
vata,  on  which  these  vines  and  trees,  along  with 
others,  appear,  is  thoroughly  cultivated,  the  vine 
occasionally  growing  at  a  height  of  thirty-six  hun- 
dred feet.  The  second  zone,  the  Eegione  Boscosa, 
extends  above  to  about  6,800  feet,  having  some  oaks 
and  beeches,  with  pines  in  the  lower  and  birches  on 
the  upper  parts.  Chestnuts  grow  at  all  heights  up 
to  6,000  feet,  and  are  cultivated  both  for  their  nuts 
and  timber.  Still  higher  is  the  third  zone,  the 
Eegione  Deserta,  reaching  to  the  top,  and  having 
only  a  stunted  mountain  vegetation.  The  forests 


560  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

on  the  slopes  are  less  in  extent  than  formerly,  and 
the  frequent  eruptions  have  destroyed  much  of  the 
woodland.  The  population  very  sparse  above  2,500 
feet  elevation,  is  extremely  dense  on  the  lower 
slopes,  exceeding  three  thousand  people  to  the 
square  mile,  being  attracted  by  the  extraordinary 
fertility,  despite  the  dangers.  The  giant  chestnuts 
of  Etna  grow  in  this  rich  lava  soil,  and  are  of 
world  wide  renown.  The  most  celebrated  is  the 
Castagna  di  Cento  Cavalli,  heretofore  referred  to,  the 
"  Chestnut  of  the  one  hundred  horses,"  and  stands 
at  about  4,000  feet  elevation,  near  Riposto.  It  is 
a  cluster  of  four  trees,  and  a  fifth  one  existed  until 
1852,  when  it  was  cut  off  and  sold  for  timber. 
Originally  they  were  united  as  one  tree,  though 
this  tradition  is  involved  in  mystery,  and  it  must 
have  been  very  long  ago.  If  there  was  only 
one  trunk,  it  measured  200  feet  in  circumference, 
and  was  the  largest  tree  existing.  The  name  was 
given  because,  when  Sicily  was  governed  by  the 
House  of  Aragon,  a  queen,  with  a  retinue  of  a  hun- 
dred horsemen,  took  refuge  under  the  spreading 
branches.  There  are  other  monster  chestnuts  on 
the  mountain  sides,  some  over  a  thousand  years  old, 
the  largest  single  tree  being  the  Castagno  della 
Galva,  having  about  seventy-six  feet  girth. 

The  summit  of  Etna  is  a  spacious  region,  about 
nine  miles  in  circumference,  from  which  rises  the 
volcanic  cone  and  crater  about  a  thousand  feet 


MOUNT  ETNA  561 

higher.  This  crater,  composed  of  piles  of  lava  and 
ashes,  constantly  changes  form,  and  is  differently 
shaped  after  every  eruption,  being  from  two  to 
three  miles  in  circumference.  Nicolosi,  about  nine 
miles  northwest  of  Catania,  is  the  usual  starting 
point  for  the  ascent,  which  is  a  popular  excursion. 
Among  those  who  went  up  in  April,  1904,  was  the 
Emperor  William  of  Germany,  who  insisted  on 
walking,  instead  of  riding  a  mule,  and  he  spoke 
in  the  highest  praise  of  the  magnificent  view.  The 
route  leads  over  the  lava  fields,  and  through  groves 
of  chestnuts,  oaks  and  beeches,  until  the  Observa- 
tory is  reached  in  the  Regione  Deserta,  at  the  foot 
of  the  crater.  There  are  various  smaller  craters 
of  extinct  volcanoes  passed  on  the  way,  and  hollows 
filled  with  snow  and  ice,  usually  covered  with  ashes 
which  preserve  them,  so  that  the  ice  is  taken  down 
the  mountain  for  use  in  the  towns  below.  From 
the  Observatory,  the  side  of  the  crater  is  mounted 
by  a  difficult  walk  over  the  steeply  inclined 
surface,  through  deep  ashes,  care  being  taken  to 
get  to  windward  so  as  to  avoid  the  sulphur  fumes. 
The  object  is  to  reach  the  top  before  sunrise  to 
enjoy  the  view.  The  sun  rises  behind  the  mountains 
of  Calabria,  which  cast  their  long  shadows  across 
the  Messina  Strait,  and  only  the  top  of  Etna  being 
bathed  in  light  as  the  beaming  disk  emerges,  this 
light,  as  the  sun  advances,  gradually  descending  to 

the  lower  mountain   slopes,  while   the   dark   violet 
VOL.  1—36 


562  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

shadow,  which  Etna  casts  to  the  westward  over 
Sicily,  deepens.  To  the  southward,  Catania  slum- 
bers in  the  dawn,  while  to  the  westward  spreads 
for  many  miles,  the  varied  and  beautiful  landscape 
of  Sicily,  becoming  brighter  as  the  sun's  rays 
enlighten  it.  Far  to  the  northward,  are  the  little 
cones  of  the  Lipari  group,  rising  from  the  sea, 
with  tall  Stromboli  smoking  in  the  distance.  From 
our  feet,  the  lava  streams  of  many  eruptions, 
wind  in  long  black  streaks  down  the  mountain  sides 
to  the  valleys  below,  and  there  make  desolate  rifts 
amid  the  almost  universal  green.  The  distant  Faro 
at  the  Messina  Strait  entrance  is  distinctly  seen, 
and  two  or  three  conspicuous  peaks  appear  among 
the  lower  mountains  of  western  Sicily.  Turning 
away  from  this  splendid  view,  having  a  horizon 
eight  hundred  miles  in  circumference,  one  can  look 
down  into  the  yawning  crater.  The  sulphurous 
steam  rises  from  the  boiling  bubbling  abyss,  and 
escaping  above,  is  driven  by  the  wind  away  from 
us.  The  mass  within  hisses,  shrieks  and  thunders, 
the  ash  piles  vibrate  with  shocks,  and  tongues  of 
flame  shoot  from  the  seething  cauldron,  until  the 
brief  view  satiates,  and  then  the  observer  briskly 
descends  the  cone,  over  the  ashes,  to  the  mules 
waiting  below.  There  is,  on  the  southwestern  slope, 
the  black  and  desolate  chasm  of  the  Valle 
del  Bove,  three  miles  wide,  with  walls  sometimes 
a  half  mile  high,  and  having  within  it  two  cones 


MESSINA  TO  PALERMO  563 

and  craters,  that  were  in  eruption  in  1852.  On  its 
upper  margin  is  the  ancient  watch-tower,  the  Torre 
del  Filosofo,  a  Roman  construction  said  to  have 
been  the  observatory  of  Empedocles,  when,  disgusted 
with  the  vanities  of  the  world,  he  prepared  for  a 
sensational  disappearance,  by  jumping  into  the 
crater  of  Etna.  The  river  Alcantara  flows  around 
the  northern  base  of  the  mountain,  and  here  is  the 
village  of  Moio,  threatened  by  the  lava  from  an 
eruption  in  1879,  which  had  advanced  almost  to 
the  river  bank,  but  passed,  when  the  affrighted  in- 
habitants brought  out  the  statue  of  their  patron 
Saint  Anthony,  escorted  by  an  elaborate  religious 
procession.  Farther  up  the  river  is  Randazzo,  the 
village  nearest  the  crater,  which  luckily  always  es- 
caped injury.  Bronte,  a  town  to  the  southward, 
gave  to  Lord  Nelson  the  Italian  title  of  Duke  of 
Bronte.  The  name  comes  from  a  Greek  word  signi- 
fying "  thunder." 

MESSINA    TO    PALERMO. 

Westward  from  Messina,  the  Neptunian  moun- 
tains stretch  over  the  peninsula  terminating  in  the 
Faro,  while  over  on  the  northwestern  side  is 
ancient  MylaB,  near  the  port  of  Milazzo,  its  medieval 
castle  being  now  a  prison.  The  northern  coast  of 
Sicily  is  a  succession  of  promontories  between 
which  run  down  the  fiumare,  or  water  courses, 
through  deep  ravines.  Among  these  promontories 


564  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

is  Cape  Tindaro,  a  rock  rising  over  nine  hundred 
feet  almost  perpendicularly  from  the  sea,  and  through 
it  the  railway  pierces  a  tunnel.  Here  was  the 
Greek  colony  of  Tyndaris,  founded  in  the  early 
fourth  century  B.  C.,  which  hecame  a  thriving  port 
in  the  Roman  days,  and  of  which  some  traces 
remain.  This  sickle-shaped  peninsula  was  known 
to  the  Greeks  as  the  "  Golden  Chersonesus,"  and  the 
Romans  called  it  the  "  Island  of  the  Sun."  On  the 
summit  of  the  cape  is  the  Monastery  of  the 
Madonna  del  Tindaro,  giving  a  beautiful  view  over 
the  sea,  with  the  Sicilian  coasts  stretching  away  on 
either  hand,  the  Lipari  islands  out  in  front,  and  off 
southeastward  the  noble  snow-crowned  cone  of  Etna. 
Tyndaris  has  ruins  of  a  Grecian  theatre  and  Eoman 
Gymnasium,  while  the  Monastery  is  upon  the  site 
of  an  ancient  temple,  probably  sacred  to  Castor  and 
Pollux,  who  were  the  city's  special  patrons. 
Within  the  cape  cliffs  is  the  stalactite  grotto  of  Fata 
Donavillo,  of  which  the  tradition  is  that  it  is  the 
haunt  of  the  fairy  Fata  Morgana,  who  kidnaps 
brides  on  their  wedding  night.  The  phantom 
palaces  of  this  noted  fairy,  are  said  to  be  often  seen 
in  mirage,  when  approaching  the  Sicilian  coast. 

To  the  westward,  the  rocky  mass  of  Cape  Orlando 
stretches  into  the  Mediterranean,  and  in  the  waters 
beyond,  was  the  scene  of  a  great  naval  contest  in 
the  thirteenth  century,  when  the  fleets  of  Catalonia 
and  Anjou  under  Roger  Loria  vanquished  Fred- 


MESSINA  TO  PALERMO  565 

erick  II.  For  fifty  miles  westward,  the  railway 
runs  close  to  the  edge  of  the  sea,  crossing  many 
fiumare,  in  a  region  of  great  beauty,  and  reaches 
a  limestone  promontory,  towering  high  above  the 
town  of  Cefalu,  which  spreads  along  the  shore  and 
has  a  fair  harbor  in  front.  This  was  ancient 
Cephaloedium,  the  original  Greek  settlement,  for 
which  Carthage,  Syracuse  and  Home  warred  before 
the  Christian  era,  and  which  the  Arabs  captured  in 
838,  after  a  long  siege.  Upon  the  towering  rock 
are  the  remains  of  a  castle  and  a  Roman  fort,  with 
huge  cisterns  cut  in  the  limestone,  the  outlook  being 
magnificent.  It  was  for  this  stronghold  that  the 
rival  races  contended  during  many  centuries,  the 
Normans  under  Roger  finally  getting  possession. 
It  is  related  that  in  1129  King  Roger,  returning 
from  Naples  along  the  coast,  bound  to  Palermo, 
was  in  danger  of  shipwreck,  and  in  a  fervent 
prayer  for  safety,  he  vowed  that  if  permitted  to 
land,  he  would  erect  on  the  spot  where  the  vessel 
might  touch  the  shore,  a  church  to  Christ  and  the 
Apostles.  The  wreck  occurred  on  the  strand  at 
the  base  of  the  Cefalu  rock,  and  he  soon  began  the 
cathedral.  It  is  one  of  the  famous  Norman  struc- 
tures of  Sicily,  and  around  it  grew  the  modern 
town.  The  cathedral  is  nearly  two  hundred  and 
fifty  feet  long  and  one  hundred  feet  high,  the  fagade 
resting  upon  huge  stone  blocks,  and  having  two  im- 
posing towers,  connected  by  a  colonnade,  which 


566  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

formerly  was  covered  with  mosaics  representing 
gifts  by  Roger  and  his  successors  in  their  generous 
treatment  of  the  church.  The  nave  is  double  the 
width  of  the  aisles,  and  the  vaulting  above  is  sup- 
ported by  noble  columns  mostly  of  granite.  Admir- 
able mosaics,  among  the  finest  in  Sicily,  adorn  the 
interior. 

Farther  westward,  the  railway  leads  through  a 
richly  cultivated  district,  where  the  manna  tree 
grows,  furnishing  large  amounts  of  manna  for 
export,  and  the  surface  rises  to  the  summit  of  the 
Gibilmanna,  nearly  3,600  feet,  the  "  manna  moun- 
tain." In  the  interior,  stretching  off  to  the  south- 
ward, are  the  Madonian  mountains,  displaying 
the  summits  of  the  Pizzo  Antenna,  6,470  feet,  and 
behind  it,  Monte  San  Salvatore,  6,255  feet.  Out 
of  the  range,  flows  northwestward  to  the  sea,  one 
of  the  largest  torrents  of  Sicily,  the  Fiume  Grande, 
which  was  a  frontier  between  Carthage,  Syracuse 
and  Rome,  when  the  former  dominated  western 
Sicily.  The  ancient  name  of  the  stream  was  the 
Himera  Septentrionalis,  and  beyond  it  was  Himera, 
the  westernmost  settlement  of  the  ancient  Greeks  on 
this  coast,  founded  648  B.  C.,  where  shortly  after- 
ward was  born  Ticias,  famous  for  the  develop- 
ment of  the  Greek  chorus,  for  which  his  name 
was  changed  to  Stesichorus.  There  are  here  the 
ruins  of  an  ancient  Doric  temple,  on  which  stand 
numerous  houses  of  the  modern  village.  It  was 


MESSINA  TO  PALERMO  567 

at  Himera  that  the  Greeks  surprised  the  Car- 
thaginian Hamilcar  when  besieging  the  town,  480 
B.  C.,  annihilating  his  army,  in  consequence  of 
which,  to  appease  the  wrath  of  the  gods,  Hamilcar 
sought  death  in  the  sacrificial  fire.  Hannibal,  his 
grandson  in  vengeance,  captured  the  place  409 
B.  C.,  and  destroyed  it.  About  seven  miles  west- 
ward, in  those  days,  was  the  Carthaginian  outpost 
town  of  Termini,  now  the  prosperous  port  of  Ter- 
mini Imerese,  famous  for  its  macaroni,  and  having 
over  thirty  thousand  people.  Its  baths  were  the 
original  attraction,  and  the  Phoenicians  were  the 
first  settlers,  but  Hannibal,  after  the  destruction 
of  Himera,  made  it  his  Carthaginian  outpost,  con- 
structed on  a  promontory,  in  a  very  strong  position. 
The  ancient  castle  was  often  besieged  in  the  middle 
ages,  and  was  not  dismantled  until  1860.  There 
are  many  Greek  and  Roman  remains,  and  its 
springs,  which  were  praised  by  Pindar,  are  led  to 
a  bath  establishment,  founded  by  Ferdinand  I,  the 
water  of  110°  temperature  containing  Epsom 
salts. 

The  coast  gradually  trends  to  the  northwest,  en- 
circling •  the  Gulf  of  Palermo,  and  terminating  be- 
yond the  city,  in  the  noble  heights  of  Monte  Pel- 
legrino  and  Cape  Gallo,  the  most  northern 
portion  of  western  Sicily.  Under  shadow  of  the 
mountain  nestles  the  spacious  city  of  Palermo,  the 
domes,  towers  and  spires  of  this  noted  capital  of 


568  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

Sicily,  rising  in  picturesque  view  on  the  approach, 
backed  by  the  amphitheatre  of  hills  enclosing  the 
famous  fertile  plain,  which  on  account  of  its  form 
and  beauty,  is  called  the  Conca  d'Oro,  or  the 
"  golden  shell."  This  is  the  most  luxuriant  region 
of  the  island,  being  covered  with  groves  of  fruit 
trees,  thoroughly  irrigated  by  water  systems,  begun 
by  the  Eomans  and  perfected  by  the  Saracens,  even 
the  subterranean  waters  being  brought  to  the  sur- 
face to  increase  the  supply.  This  irrigation  has 
increased  the  yield  of  the  land  twenty-fold,  the 
owners  of  the  springs  and  wells  enjoying  a  large 
income  from  the  revenue  produced  by  their  out- 
flow. It  is  one  of  the  most  densely  populated  dis- 
tricts of  Sicily. 

PALERMO. 

A  shallow  and  restricted  harbor,  thrust  far  into 
the  land,  on  the  western  shore  of  the  Gulf  of 
Palermo,  originally  attracted  the  Phoenician  mar- 
iners to  make  a  settlement,  which  when  the  Greeks 
came,  they  called  Panormus,  referring  to  the  good 
anchorage,  the  name  meaning  "  all  harbor."  Part 
of  this  harbor  still  remains,  in  the  little  water  en- 
closure of  La  Gala,  but  the  larger  portion,  then 
spreading  inland,  has  been  covered  by  the  streets 
and  buildings  of  the  city.  The  two  streams 
emptying  into  it  are  now  streets,  being  covered 
over,  and  here  was  ancient  Panormus,  which  was  a 


PALERMO  569 

Carthaginian  stronghold,  captured  by  the  Romans 
254  B.  C.  Hamilcar  Barca  afterward  came,  and 
placed  his  camp  on  Monte  Pellegrino  to  the  north- 
ward, vainly  attempting  to  recapture  the  place,  in 
a  siege  continuing  three  years.  The  Goths  got  it, 
and  the  Saracens  in  830,  making  it  their  capital, 
and  holding  it  over  two  centuries,  during  which  it 
attained  great  prosperity,  and  exceeded  at  one  time 
three  hundred  thousand  inhabitants.  The  Nor- 
mans arrived  under  Robert  and  Roger  Guiscard  in 
1072,  and  it  afterward  was  ruled  by  the  House  of 
Anjou,  expelled  in  1282  by  the  revolution  known 
as  the  "  Sicilian  Vespers."  Then  it  became  Span- 
ish territory,  and  ultimately  was  the  capital  of  the 
kingdom  of  the  Two  Sicilies,  the  final  revolt  against 
King  Ferdinand  of  Naples  (Bomba)  culminating 
in  the  entry  of  Garibaldi  with  his  /  Mille  the 
"thousand  volunteers,"  on^May  27,  1860,  and  its 
becoming  part  of  the  new  Italian  kingdom.  Pal- 
ermo, as  the  name  ultimately  became,  has  suffered 
from  war,  bombardment,  pestilence,  and  almost 
every  ill  that  can  befall  a  town,  but  it  has  survived 
all,  and  is  now  the  finest  city  of  Sicily,  having  about 
two  hundred  and  eighty  thousand  population,  and 
enjoying  prosperous  trade  under  the  watchful  care 
of  its  patron,  Santa  Rosalia,  its  popular  title  being 
"  la  felice "  because  of  the  splendid  climate  and 
grand  situation.  The  saint,  who  was  a  niece  of  the 
Norman  king,  William  the  Good,  lived  in  the 


570  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

twelfth  century,  and  in  the  bloom  of  youth  became 
a  recluse,  her  home  being  a  grotto  on  Monte 
Pellegrino.  Here  she  died  in  1170,  and  her  bones 
enclosed  in  a  chest  of  solid  silver,  weighing  nearly 
a  ton,  were  in  the  cave  in  1624,  when  the  plague 
was  raging  in  Palermo,  and  were  taken  to  the  city 
in  solemn  procession.  We  are  told  that  at  once 
the  dread  disease  was  banished,  she  being  made 
from  that  time  the  patron  saint,  with  the  cathedral 
as  her  shrine,  and  her  festival  celebrated  during 
five  days  in  July,  while  armies  of  pious  pilgrims 
visit  the  cave  in  the  mountain  every  Whitmonday. 

The  sea  front  of  Palermo,  adjoining  the  harbor, 
is  the  splendid  promenade  of  the  Marina,  a  quay 
stretching  for  a  mile  from  the  Porta  Felice,  adjoin- 
ing the  Gala,  southward  to  the  spacious  Flora  or 
public  garden,  one  of  the  most  elaborate  parks  of 
the  island,  and  the  great  popular  resort,  where  the 
townsfolk  assemble  to  enjoy  the  shade,  the  perfumes 
of  the  foliage,  and  the  outlook,  which  reaches  to 
Mount  Etna.  It  displays  the  finest  sculpture  in 
Palermo,  a  group  of  the  noted  Greek  naval  heroes, 
the  Canaris  brothers.  Northwestward  from  this 
park,  the  Via  Lincoln  leads  to  the  railway 
station.  Inland  from  the  northern  end  of  the 
Marina,  is  the  beautiful  pleasure  ground  of  the 
Giardino  Garibaldi,  occupying  the  old  Piazza 
Marina,  on  the  land  reclaimed  from  the  ancient 
harbor.  Back  southwestward  from  this  Piazza, 


PALERMO  571 

runs  the  chief  street  of  the  city,  the  Corso  Vittorio 
Emanuele,  extending  inland  to  the  Palazzo  Reale, 
the  chief  citadel.  Midway,  it  is  crossed  at  right 
angles  by  the  Via  Macqueda,  these  streets  dividing 
Palermo  into  four  quarters  and  their  intersection 
being  the  octagonal  Piazza,  of  the  Quattro  Centi, 
which  is  the  centre  of  the  city.  The  various  fagades 
of  this  Piazza  are  highly  decorated  churches  and 
other  buildings,  and  it  is  embellished  with  columns 
and  statues  of  the  Seasons.  The  Corso  was  known 
as  the  Cassaro,  from  the  name  originally  borne, 
derived  from  the  Arabic  el  Kasr  "  the  castle."  This 
castle  was  of  Saracenic  build,  but  the  Nor- 
mans Robert  and  Roger  made  additions,  and  sub- 
sequent sovereigns  improved  it,  so  that  now  this 
is  the  Palazzo  Reale,  rising  on  a  moderate 
eminence,  in  the  spacious  Piazza  della  Vittorio,  at 
the  termination  of  the  Corso.  Its  great  attraction 
is  the  Cappella  Palatina,  dedicated  to  St.  Peter, 
and  built  by  Roger  II  in  Arabic-Norman  style. 
This  is  regarded  as  one  of  the  most  beautiful  palace- 
chapels  existing,  a  gem  of  medieval  art,  and  espe- 
cially rich  in  mosaics.  Passing  through  the  vesti- 
bule, adorned  with  Egyptian  granite  columns,  the 
interior  is  entered,  a  nave  with  aisles  about  one 
hundred  feet  long  and  forty  feet  wide.  Above 
the  transept  crossing,  rises  a  dome  seventy-five  feet 
high.  Splendid  columns  support  the  Moorish 
pointed  arches  between  the  nave  and  aisles.  The 


572  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

dome  and  roof  have  Greek,  Roman  and  Cufic  in- 
scriptions, the  floor  is  of  colored  mosaic,  and  the 
walls  are  entirely  covered  with  glass  mosaics,  in 
oriental  splendor,  representing  religious  subjects, 
most  of  them  made  during  King  Roger's  reign.  The 
arms  of  Aragon  and  Savoy  adorn  the  throne.  The 
Royal  Observatory  of  the  Palazzo  is  in  one  of  the 
oldest  towers,  and  it  was  here  that  the  astronomer 
Piazzi,  in  1801,  discovered  the  first  asteroid 
Ceres. 

The  spacious  Piazza  del  Duo  mo  adjoins  the 
Corso,  and  has  in  the  centre  a  statue  of  Santa 
Rosalia.  In  the  Roman  days,  a  Christian  church 
was  erected  on  this  Piazza,  which  the  Saracens 
made  a  mosque,  and  after  their  expulsion,  it  again 
became  a  Christian  church.  Upon  the  site  of  this 
original  building,  on  the  northwest  side  of  the 
Piazza,  is  the  cathedral,  erected  in  the  twelfth 
century  by  the  Normans,  the  architect  being  the 
noted  English  church  builder,  "  Walter  of  the  Mill." 
It  was  enlarged  and  improved  during  subsequent 
centuries,  a  dome  being  added  in  1781.  Within 
it  are  the  tombs  of  the  sovereigns,  in  red  porphyry, 
including  Roger,  Ferdinand  II,  Henry  VI  and  their 
queens  and  descendants.  In  the  crypt  are  the 
coffins  of  ecclesiastics,  and  also  that  of  the  architect 
Walter.  There  are  various  chapels,  the  most  sump- 
tuous being  Santa  Rosalia's,  adjoining  the  choir, 
constructed  after  the  discovery  of  her  remains, 


The  Cathedral,  Palermo. 


PALERMO  573 

in  which  they  are  kept  in  the  famous  silver  chest, 
exhibited  to  the  faithful  on  her  fete  days. 

Palermo  is  noted  for  its  many  churches.  San 
Giovanni,  near  the  Palazzo  Reale,  was  one  of  the 
earliest  Norman  churches,  and  originally  a  mosque. 
San  Salvatore,  built  in  the  seventeenth  century, 
is  an  oval  with  three  large  recesses.  La  Martorana 
was  built  by  King  Roger's  admiral  Antiochenos, 
and  in  it  met  the  Sicilian  parliament,  after  the 
expulsion  of  the  House  of  Anjou.  Given  to  the 
nuns  of  the  Martorana  convent  in  the  fifteenth  cen- 
tury, their  name  was  attached  to  the  church, 
which  is  a  square  Byzantine  building  with  apses. 
There  was  originally  a  dome,  demolished  by  an 
earthquake,  and  removed  in  1726.  The  vestibule 
contains  mosaics  representing  Antiochenos  at  the 
feet  of  the  Virgin,  and  Roger  being  crowned  by 
Christ.  Santa  Maria  della  Catena  is  down  by  the 
old  harbor  La  Gala,  its  name  referring  to  the  chain, 
originally  used  to  close  the  harbor  entrance,  and 
fastened  near  the  church.  In  Santa  Maria  della 
Vittoria,  also  near  the  harbor,  is  displayed  in  a 
chapel,  the  door  through  which  Robert  Guiscard, 
the  Xorman,  first  entered  the  city.  Santa  Maria 
della  Spasimo,  nearby,  is  the  church  for  which 
Raphael  painted  his  Christ  bearing  the  Cross,  now 
in  Madrid.  The  Magione  was  the  church  of  the 
Teutonic  order,  presented  them  by  Henry  VI,  and  in 
the  aisles  are  stone  slabs  covering  tombs  of  the 


574  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

knights.  In  Santa  Maria  della  Volta,  in  1647,  the 
revolutionary  leader,  Giuseppe  d'  Alesi,  who  had 
attacked  the  Spanish  Viceroy's  Government,  was 
assassinated.  The  spacious  San  Domenico,  built  in 
the  seventeenth  century,  will  accommodate  twelve 
thousand  people,  and  contains  the  tombs  of  many 
eminent  Sicilians.  There  are  noted  paintings  and 
mosaics  in  the  churches  of  Palermo,  and  their  archi- 
tectural splendors  and  rich  decorations  are  impres- 
sive. 

One  of  the  most  famous  paintings  in  Palermo  is 
the  Triumph  of  Death.  It  isi  a  fresco  of  the 
fifteenth  century,  in  an  arcade  of  the  Palazzo 
Selafani,  now  used  as  a  barrack,  upon  the  eastern 
side  of  the  Piazza  della  Vittoria.  The  artist  is 
unknown,  but  the  tradition  is  that  it  was  painted  by 
a  Fleming,  confined  here  by  sickness.  Death  in 
triumph  is  riding  over  pope,  king  and  people:  on 
the  one  hand,  his  arrows  have  stricken  a  fashion- 
able lady,  and  a  young  man  in  the  midst  of  a  merry 
party,  while  on  the  other  side,  the  poor  and  wretched 
in  vain  implore  him  for  release  from  their  living 
misery:  among  the  latter  group  is  the  artist.  The 
city  has  various  evidences  of  devotion  to  the 
memory  of  the  Italian  liberator,  Garibaldi.  The 
northern  extension  of  the  Via  Macqueda,  the  Via 
della  Liberta,  has,  at  its  termination,  the  entrance 
to  the  attractive  English  Garden,  an  elaborate 
equestrian  statue  of  Garibaldi,  representing  him 


PALERMO  575 

addressing    his    friend    Bixio,    after   the    successful 
battle  of  Calatafimi,  and  announcing  the  march  to 
Palermo.     He     had     landed,     with     his     thousand 
volunteers    (/  Mille},   at   Marsala,   on  the  western 
coast,  May  11,  1860,  and  after  the  victory,  entered 
Palermo,    May    27,    soon    becoming    master    of    all 
Sicily,    which    at    the    election,    in    the    subsequent 
October,  voted  to  unite  with  the  new  kingdom  of 
Italy.     He  came  into  the  city  by  the  gate  on  the 
southern  verge,  since  called  the  Porta  Garibaldi,  the 
street  approaching  it  being  now  named  the   Corso 
dei  Mille,  while  the  street  within  the  gate  is  the 
Via   Garibaldi,   leading  to  the   Piazza   della   Rivo- 
buzione,  in  the  heart  of  Palermo,  this  having  been 
the  route  of  his  march.     The  National  Museum  of 
Palermo    contains    an    excellent    collection    of    an- 
tiquities,    paintings     and     sculptures,     with     many 
Phoenician,   Carthaginian,  Greek,  Roman,  Etruscan 
and  Arabic  works.     Among  these   are  the  famous 
Metopes,    from    ancient    Salinus,    showing   the    de- 
velopment   of   Grecian    sculpture,    long   before    the 
Christian    era.     The    pictures    include    the    noted 
triptych,   the    Gabinetta  Malvagna,    a    small   altar- 
piece,  preserved  under  glass,  attributed  to  Mabuse, 
in   the   fifteenth   century.     The   attractions   of   this 
beautiful    capital    are    many.     A    delighted    visitor 
tells  us  that  nature  has  made  Palermo   a  city  of 
luxury,    where    the    summer    heat  is    tempered    by 
gentle  breezes  from  the  sea,  and  snow  can  find  no 


576  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

resting  place  in  winter;  where  roses  are  in  full 
bloom  all  the  year;  where  fruit  trees  are  in  blossom, 
and  green  peas  are  gathered  in  January  and  F eb- 
ruary;  where  the  sago  and  date  palms  flourish,  the 
bamboo  and  sugar  cane  grow  at  all  seasons  in  the 
open  air;  and  where  the  vine  is  a  weed  and  its 
precious  juice  a  drug. 

WESTEJUST    SICILY. 

The  grand  mountain  environment  of  the  Conca 
d'Oro,  gives  a  magnificent  view  over  the  fertile 
plain,  the  city  and  the  sea,  and  here,  at  an  elevation 
of  about  a  thousand  feet,  and  five  miles  westward 
from  Palermo,  is  Monreale,  the  deserted  castle,  on 
the  high  hill  behind  it,  being  elevated  2,500  feet. 
Upon  this  "  royal  mountain,"  William  II,  known 
as  "  the  Good,"  and  the  grandson  of  Roger  II, 
founded,  in  the  twelfth  century,  a  Benedictine 
abbey,  and  around  its  splendid  church  has  gathered 
on  th?  hill  slopes,  a  town  of  nearly  twenty  thousand 
people.  This  cathedral  is  built  as  a  cross,  about 
three  hundred  and  thirty  feet  long  and  one  hundred 
and  thirty  feet  wide,  its  entrance  flanked  by  mas- 
sive square  towers,  the  interior  supported  by  granite 
columns,  and  the  walls  entirely  covered  by  mosaics. 
These  depict  scriptural  scenes  in  three  classes  — 
prophecies  of  the  Messiah,  the  life  of  Christ,  and 
the  lives  of  the  Apostles,  and  they  cover  about 
seventy  thousand  square  feet  of  surface.  King 


WESTERN  SICILY  577 

William  the  Good  is  the  hero  in  the  elaborate  dis- 
play, one  mosaic,  above  his  royal  throne,  represent- 
ing the  king  receiving  the  crown  from  the  Saviour 
direct,  and  not  from  the  pope,  while  another,  above 
the  archbishop's  chair,  represents  the  king  in  the 
act  of  offering  a  view  of  the  cathedral  to  the  Virgin. 
The  tombs  of  William  I,  known  as  "  the  Bad," 
and  William  II,  are  in  one  of  the  transepts.  Little 
remains  of  the  Abbey  buildings,  but  the  cloisters  are 
extensive  and  beautiful,  the  pointed  arches  being 
adorned  with  mosaics,  and  supported  by  over  two 
hundred  richly  ornamented  columns  with  varied 
capitals.  There  are  some  modern  buildings  used 
for  school  purposes. 

Korthward  from  Palermo,  beyond  the  impressive 
Monte  Pellegrino,  Cape  Gallo  extends  boldly  into  the 
sea.  The  cliff-bordered  coast  stretches  westward,  and 
deeply  indented  is  the  Gulf  of  Castellammare,  with 
the  far  projecting  Cape  Vito  beyond  it.  In  this 
bay  is  Castellammare,  the  port  of  ancient  Segesta, 
to  the  southward.  The  battlefield  of  Calatafimi, 
where  Garibaldi  won  his  first  victory  in  Sicily,  May 
15,  1860,  is  not  far  from  the  noted  ruins.  North- 
ward from  Calatafimi  flows  the  Fiume  Gaggera, 
the  ancient  Scamander,  passing  through  a  deep  and 
beautiful  valley  on  the  eastern  flanks  of  the  Monte 
Varvaro.  Here  were  warm  medicinal  springs, 
which  seem  to  have  attracted  the  first  settlement  of 

the  Greek  Egesta,  the  origin  of  which  is  involved  in 
VOL.  1—37 


578  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

mystery,  but  is  attributed  to  descendants  of  the 
Trojans  who  came  to  this  valley.  This  gave  a  basis 
for  the  tradition  prevalent  in  the  Roman  days  that 
the  place  was  founded  by  ^Eneas.  The  people  were 
involved  in  many  conflicts  during  the  Carthaginian 
and  Roman  wars,  and  when  the  latter  came  into 
possession,  the  name  became  Segesta.  It  is  now  a 
ruin,  containing  one  of  the  best  preserved  Doric 
temples  in  Sicily,  on  a  hill  at  1,000  feet  elevation, 
surrounded  by  a  girdle  of  much  higher  mountains. 
This  is  a  majestic  structure,  two  hundred  feet  long 
and  eighty-five  feet  wide,  enclosed  by  thirty-six  col- 
umns, each  about  thirty  feet  high,  including  their 
capitals,  and  six  feet  thick,  with  intervals  of  eight 
feet  between.  The  structure,  when  work  ceased,  was 
incomplete,  and  the  columns  are  unfluted,  and  the 
basement  steps  unfinished.  On  the  hill  slope  of  the 
town  is  the  theatre,  hewn  in  the  rock,  the  auditorium 
being  over  two  hundred  feet  in  diameter,  with  a 
stage  of  ninety  feet  width.  There  is  a  grand  view, 
from  this  theatre,  of  the  mountains  rising  to  the 
northward,  at  the  edge  of  the  sea. 

The  Fiume  Gaggera  flows  down  to  the  Fiume 
Sant  Bartolommeo,  which  falls  into  the  Gulf  of  Cas- 
tellammare,  and  to  the  westward  rise  the  summits  of 
the  mountain  range  in  Monte  Inice,  3,490  feet,  and 
Monte  Sporagio,  3,Y05  feet,  overlooking  the  sea. 
The  ridge  extends  northward  in  the  ponderous  Cape 
Vito,  while  to  the  westward  it  terminates  in  the 


WESTERN  SICILY  579 

isolated  Monte  San  Giuliano,  2,485  feet  high,  the 
northwestern  extremity  of  Sicily,  from  which  there 
is  a  view  over  the  Mediterranean  and  the  group 
of  JEgadian  islands  to  the  westward,  with  the  Afri- 
can Cape  Bon  beyond  at  the  horizon.  This  moun- 
tain was  the  renowned  Eryx  of  antiquity,  and  by 
the  seaside  at  its  base  is  its  ancient  port,  Trapani. 
The  Phoenicians  built,  on  the  summit  of  Eryx,  a  tem- 
ple of  Astarte,  the  goddess  who  was  their  Venus, 
where  no  blood  was  permitted  to  flow  on  the  altar, 
and  the  Greek  tradition  was  that  this  temple  had 
been  originally  founded  by  Hercules.  It  was  also 
said  to  have  been  founded  by  JEneas,  and  in  the 
JEneid  is  recorded  that  Anchises  died  here,  his  son 
^Eneas  instituting  games  in  his  memory.  The  tem- 
ple ultimately  became  a  shrine  of  Venus,  and  this 
deity  at  Eryx,  was  worshipped  by  all  the  maritime 
people  throughout  the  Mediterranean.  The  original 
town  was  built  on  the  mountain  slope  below  the 
temple,  and  in  the  first  Punic  War,  Hamilcar  Barca 
destroyed  it,  carrying  the  inhabitants  as  slaves  down 
to  the  shore  to  people  Trapani,  then  known  as  Dre- 
pana,  the  name  meaning  a  sickle,  and  derived  from 
the  rounded  shape  of  the  projecting  peninsula  ad- 
joining the  harbor.  The  Romans  afterward  cap- 
tured the  town  and  held  the  temple,  being  long 
besieged  by  Hamilcar  Barca,  who  could  not  drive 
them  out.  The  Saracens  later  got  possession,  and 
constructed  an  Arabic  castle  on  the  summit,  being 


580  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

ultimately  expelled  by  King  Roger,  who  is  said  to 
have  been  aided  by  San  Giuliano  appearing  and  put- 
ting the  Saracens  to  flight,  so  that  in  gratitude  the 
mountain  was  given  his  name.  There  is  now  a  small 
and  decaying  town  on  the  summit,  with  a  church, 
and  the  ivy-clad  castle,  on  top  of  the  rugged  rock, 
used  as  a  prison.  There  also  are  some  remains  of 
the  old  Phoenician  walls,  large  blocks  of  stone,  the 
foundation  of  the  present  wall,  while  the  ancient 
reservoir  of  the  Temple  of  Venus  is  preserved  in  the 
castle  garden.  *  The  port  of  Trapani  has  a  good  trade 
in  alabaster,  coral,  cameos  and  other  art  productions, 
and  a  population  approximating  40,000.  The 
islands  in  the  offing  include  ancient  Hiera,  now 
Maretemo,  its  Monte  Falcone  rising  2,245  feet,  and 
^Egusa,  now  Favignana,  elevated  1,070  feet.  Their 
enclosing  waters  are  a  prolific  tunny  fishery. 

About  twenty  miles  down  the  coast  boldly  pro- 
trudes Cape  Boeo,  the  westernmost  point  of  Sicily, 
the  ancient  Lilibeo,  the  port  of  Lilybseum  having 
been  on  a  harbor  just  southward.  This  is  now  the 
busy  modern  town  of  Marsala,  noted  for  its  Marsala 
wine,  extensively  made  from  the  Sicilian  vines  and 
spirits.  There  are  Phoenician  and  other  remains  of 
antiquity  in,  the  neighborhood.  Lilybaeum  was  the 
chief  Carthaginian  stronghold  in  Sicily,  and  it  be- 
came the  Roman  capital  of  the  western  peninsula. 
The  Saracens  gave  it  the  present  name  Marsa-ali, 
the  "  harbor  of  Ali."  It  was  here  that  Garibaldi 


WESTERN  SICILY  581 

landed  May  11,  1860,  with  his  thousand  volunteers, 
who  soon  got  possession  of  all  Sicily,  ultimately 
making  it  part  of  the  United  Italian  kingdom.  The 
survivors  of  this  band  of  patriots  were  all  pensioned 
by  the  Italian  Government,  and  not  so  long  ago  it 
was  found  that  the  pension  rolls  had  been  "  padded," 
there  being  nearly  fifty  times  as  many  pensioners  as 
there  were  real  survivors  (then  numbering  238), 
and  most  of  them  being  young  men  who  were  not 
born  in  1860.  Dumas  the  elder  was  among  Gari- 
baldi's band,  and  was  his  envoy  who  arranged  the 
surrender  of  various  towns. 

Beyond  Marsala  we  get  into  the  land  originally 
held  by  the  Selinuntians,  and  about  a  dozen  miles 
southeastward,  along  the  coast,  come  to  Mazara, 
one  of  their  colonies,  now  a  port,  surrounded  by  an 
Italian  quadrangular  wall  nearly  forty  feet  high,  and 
defended  by  square  towers,  which  have  survived 
from  the  middle  ages.  King  Roger  built  the  castle 
at  the  southeastern  angle,  now  in  ruins,  and  also  the 
cathedral.  From  the  fronting  promenade,  the  Ma- 
rina, there  is  a  pleasant  outlook  over  the  sea.  The 
coast  curves  gradually  around  to  the  eastward,  with 
much  of  the  interior  surface  a  moor,  having  on  its 
eastern  verge,  and  not  far  inland  from  -the  sea,  the 
famous  ruins  of  Selinus,  containing  some  of  the 
grandest  ancient  temples  in  Europe.  The  Greeks 
founded  this  city  in  the  seventh  century  B.  C.,  and 
it  was  the  most  western  of  their  settlements  in 


582  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

Sicily.  The  conflicts  the  Selinuntians  had  with  the 
Egestans,  were  the  pretext  that  brought  the  Car- 
thaginians into  Sicily,  under  Hannibal  Gisgon,  in 
409'  B.  C.,  when  he  besieged  Selinus  with  a  hundred 
thousand  men,  put  most  of  the  inhabitants  to  the 
sword,  and  carried  others  into  African  captivity, 
only  twenty-six  hundred  escaping.  He  destroyed 
ancient  Mazara  at  the  same  time  as  Selinus,  but  the 
latter  place  never  recovered,  and  during  the  first 
Punic  War,  in  the  third  century  B.  C.,  it  was  finally 
destroyed,  and  since  then  has  remained  practically 
deserted.  The  Selinuntians  were  engaged  in  con- 
structing their  temples  when  Hannibal  Gisgon  began 
the  siege,  and  the  incomplete  buildings  still  exist. 
In  approaching  from  Mazara,  the  ancient  quarries 
are  passed  at  Campobello,  whence  the  stones  were 
got,  and  the  work  of  quarrying,  interrupted  by  the 
Carthaginians,  has  never  been  resumed.  Huge 
drums  of  stone  for  the  columns  are  partly  severed 
from  the  rock,  and  others  are  lying  at  intervals, 
along  the  road  to  Selinus,  where  the  transport  was 
interrupted.  These  drums  are  about  eight  feet  in 
diameter,  and  eight  to  ten  feet  long,  and  correspond 
with  those  used  in  one  of  the  incomplete  temples,  for 
which  they  no  doubt  were  intended. 

The  little  Fiume  Modione,  the  ancient  river  Sa- 
linas, flows  through  a  narrow  valley  to  the  coast,  and 
on  its  eastern  side,  upon  a  hill  about  one  hundred  and 
fifty  feet  high,  the  Greeks  erected  their  Acropolis 


WESTERN  SICILY  583 

overlooking  the  sea,  with  the  town  behind  it.  The 
river  valley,  originally  a  marsh,  was  drained  in  the 
sixth  century,  it  is  said  by  Empedocles,  and  here  they 
founded  on  the  hill  to  the  westward,  the  sacred  pre- 
cinct, with  the  temples  that  were  being  constructed 
when  the  Carthaginians  captured  the  city.  For  over 
two  thousand  years  the  place  has  been  deserted,  ex- 
cepting as  hermits  during  the  early  Christian  era, 
and  sometimes  since,  may  have  lived  in  solitary  cells 
among  the  abandoned  temples,  which  were  partially 
destroyed  by  earthquakes.  The  Saracens  called  it 
Rahl-el-Asnam,  the  "  town  of  the  idols,"  but  they 
were  driven  out  by  King  Roger.  The  Italian  Gov- 
ernment is  making  extensive  excavations  and  restora- 
tions, and  most  of  the  metopes  and  sculptures  found, 
have  been  placed  in  the  Museum  at  Palermo.  There 
are  seven  temples,  of  which  two  were  built  in  the 
seventh  century  B.  C.,  soon  after  the  first  settlement, 
two  in  the  sixth  century,  and  two  in  the  fifth.  The 
largest  temple  of  all  was  building  during  the  sixth 
and  fifth  centuries,  and  was  unfinished  when  Hanni- 
bal came,  the  columns  being  unfluted.  It  was  dedi- 
cated to  Apollo,  and  is  one  of  the  largest  Grecian 
temples  known,  being  371  feet  long,  and  177  feet 
wide,  with  columns  sixty  feet  high,  including  their 
capitals.  Three  other  temples  are  over  two  hundred 
feet  long,  and  two  more  were  about  as  large.  These, 
so  far  as  can  be  ascertained,  were  sacred  to  Hercules, 
Hecate  and  Hera.  Much  of  the  walls  and  founda- 


584  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

tions  of  buildings  in  the  old  town  and  the  ancient 
necropolis  have  been  excavated. 

To  the  eastward  of  Selinus  the  Fiume  Belice,  the 
ancient  Hypsas,  flows  out  from  the  hills,  and  among 
the  rocks  of  Menf  rici  beyond,  the  Greeks  got  the  mar- 
bles for  their  Selinus  metopes.  Farther  on,  an 
abrupt  eminence  rises  two  hundred  and  sixty  feet 
from  the  sea,  and  here  the  Selinuntians  had  their 
warm  baths,  the  place  being  called  Shakkah  by  the 
Saracens,  which  has  been  modernized  into  Sciacca. 
There  are  warm  sulphur  and  salt  springs  to  the  east- 
ward of  the  town,  and  the  ancients  attributed  them 
to  Daedalus,  while  in  the  middle  ages,  San  Calogero, 
a  monk,  was  said  to  have  discovered  them,  so  that 
the  isolated  cone,  out  of  which  they  come,  is  called 
Monte  San  Calogero,  and  rises  in  elevation  1,280 
feet,  about  two  miles  from  Sciacca.  It  was  the  old 
Sicilian  fashion  to  attribute  all  such  springs,  wher- 
ever they  might  be,  to  Daedalus,  while  in  medieval 
times  the  people  attributed  them  to  San  Calogero,  the 
name  coming  from  a  Greek  word  signifying  a  monk. 
Both  were  myths.  Daedalus  lived  before  the  Trojan 
war,  in  Crete,  and  was  a  sculptor  in  the  mythological 
tradition.  He  became  an  enemy  of  King  Minos,  and 
to  escape  from  the  island  made  for  himself,  and  for 
his  son  Icarus,  wings  fastened  on  with  wax.  They 
flew  over  the  ^Egean  sea,  but  Icarus  going  too  near 
the  sun,  the  wax  melted,  loosening  the  wings,  and  he 


AGRIGENTUM  585 

dropped  and  perished  in  what  was  called  after  him, 
the  Icarian  Sea. 

Off  this  coast,  in  July,  1831,  a  volcanic  island 
about  five  miles  in  circumference,  with  a  crater,  rose 
from  the  sea,  but  on  January  18,  1832,  it  as  sud- 
denly subsided  and  disappeared.  There  was  another 
eruption  in  1866,  making  a  shoal,  and  a  few  years 
later  a  valuable  coral  reef  was  discovered  at  the  place, 
which  has  proved  a  most  successful  coral  fishery. 
From  Sciacca  the  coast  trends  southeast,  and  forty 
miles  distant  is  Girgenti.  About  half  way  between, 
the  little  river  Platoni,  the  ancient  Helycus,  flows  into 
the  Mediterranean,  this  having  been  the  site  of  the 
Greek  settlement  of  Heracleia  Minoa,  which  has  al- 
most entirely  disappeared.  Girgenti  is  among  the 
hills,  at  an  elevation  of  over  1,000  feet,  and  about 
three  miles  inland  from  the  coast,  its  busy  little  har- 
bor down  by  the  sea,  whence  its  sulphur  is  exported, 
being  now  named  after  the  noted  philosopher,  the 
Port  a  Empedocle. 

AGRIGENTUM. 

A  hill,  descending  abruptly  on  its  northern  face, 
and  sloping  gently  southward  toward  the  coast,  is  en- 
vironed on  either  hand  by  two  small  rivers,  which 
unite  into  one  channel  outlet.  These  are  the  Draga 
(the  ancient  Hypsas)  to  the  west,  and  the  San  Biagio 
(the  Acragas)  to  the  east.  The  abrupt  hill  between, 


586  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

remarkable  for  its  position  of  strong  defence,  was 
early  occupied  by  the  Greeks,  as  they  extended  their 
colonization  westward  on  the  Sicilian  coast,  and  here 
they  founded  in  the  sixth  century  B.  C.,  Acragas, 
which  Pindar  described  as  "  the  most  beautiful  city 
of  mortals."  They  erected  temples  to  Athene  and 
Zeus,  the  former  on  the  eastern  part  of  the  hill,  known 
as  the  Rock  of  Athene,  and  the  latter  on  the  north- 
western portion,  where  also  was  the  Acropolis.  The 
modern  surviving  town  of  Girgenti  is  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  the  Acropolis  and  Temple  of  Zeus,  and  now 
has  over  twenty  thousand  people.  The  ancient  city 
extended  far  down  the  hill  slopes,  and  toward  the 
coast.  The  Greeks  worshipped  Athene  and  Zeus 
Atabyrius,  the  Moloch  of  Mount  Tabor,  and  during 
the  reign  of  Phalaris,  in  the  later  sixth  century  B.  C., 
that  cruel  tyrant  is  said  to  have  sacrificed  human  vic- 
tims in  red-hot  bulls  of  metal  at  the  altar  of  Moloch. 
In  the  fifth  century  the  domain  of  Acragas  was  ex- 
tended to  the  northern  coast,  and  Himera  was  con- 
quered. Theron,  then  the  tyrant,  allied  his  forces 
with  Gelon,  the  tyrant  of  Syracuse,  they  defeated 
the  Carthaginians  at  Himera,  480  B.  C.,  and  then 
the  aggrandizement  of  Acragas  began.  The  vast 
army  of  captives  taken  in  the  battle  constructed  the 
temples,  the  canals  and  a  spacious  fishpond.  Em- 
pedocles  ruled  subsequently,  and  the  city,  which  had 
a  great  trade  with  Carthage  and  throughout  the 
Mediterranean,  reached  the  zenith  of  its  career.  The 


AGRIGENTUM  587 

population  then  exceeded  200,000,  and  the  extensive 
public  works,  of  which  the  remains  now  cover  the 
ancient  site,  excited  the  admiration  of  succeeding 
ages.  Of  its  grandeur  and  pomp,  Empedocles  said, 
"  the  Agragentians  built  their  dwellings  as  though 
they  were  to  live  forever,  and  indulged  in  luxury  as 
if  they  were  to  die  on  the  morrow."  But  the  re- 
nowned city  fell.  The  Carthaginians  overran  west- 
ern Sicily,  captured  and  plundered  it,  406  B.  C., 
sending  the  loot,  including  the  most  valuable  works 
of  art,  to  Carthage.  The  temples  were  burnt,  and 
ultimately,  in  the  Punic  Wars,  the  destroyed  city, 
alternately  reviving  and  declining,  passed  under 
Roman  domination,  and  became  known  as  Agri- 
gentum.  Thereafter  it  was  less  important;  the 
Saracens  became  the  masters  in  the  ninth  century, 
and  Roger  with  his  Normans  in  1086. 

As  Agrigentum  appears  to-day,  there  are  two  hills 
with  a  depression  between.  The  lower  hill  to  the 
northwest,  covered  by  the  modern  town,  has  on  its 
summit,  at  1,080  feet  elevation,  the  cathedral,  of 
which  the  construction  began  in  the  fourteenth  cen- 
tury, but  nearly  all  of  it  is  of  later  date,  the  campa- 
nile being  still  unfinished.  Nearby  is  the  Church 
of  Santa  Maria  dei  Greci,  containing  remains  of  the 
Temple  of  Athene,  regarded  as  the  most  ancient  con- 
struction in  the  city.  From  the  public  gardens 
adjacent,  there  are  grand  views  over  the  sea,  far  to 
the  westward.  The  eastern  boundary  of  the  town  is 


588  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

a  depression,  beyond  which  rises  much  higher,  the 
famous  Rock  of  Athene,  elevated  1,150  feet,  and  the 
summit  enclosed  by  a  wall.  Here  stood  the  Temple 
of  Athene,  but  everything  long  ago  disappeared. 
The  tradition  is  that  the  depression  between  the  hills 
was  excavated  by  Empedocles,  to  admit  the  passage 
of  the  Tramontana,  the  north  wind;  and  thus  drive 
out  the  malaria  from  the  ancient  city  to  the  south- 
ward. The  summit  of  the  Rock  gives  a  splendid  out- 
look in  every  direction,  over  land  and  water.  The 
sulphur  mines  in  the  neighborhood  yield  a  large  part 
of  the  Sicilian  product,  nearly  a  half-million  tons 
yearly.  There  are  remains  of  the  extensive  canal 
system  which  brought  water  to  the  city,  and  also  of 
the  fishpond,  the  site  of  which  is  now  a  hollow  in  the 
valley  of  the  Drago. 

The  ruins  of  a  half-dozen  ancient  Grecian  temples 
are  scattered  over  the  hill  slopes,  the  chief  being  the 
temple  of  Zeus,  over  three  hundred  and  sixty  feet 
long,  and  one  hundred  and  eighty  feet  broad,  with 
columns  fifty-five  feet  high.  This  vast  building 
was  never  entirely  completed.  It  has  thirty-eight 
columns,  fourteen  at  the  sides,  and  six  at  the  ends, 
each  twenty  feet  in  circumference.  Upon  the  east- 
ern side  were  represented  the  contest  of  the  gods  with 
the  giants,  and  on  the  western  side  the  conquest  of 
Troy.  Portions  of  the  walls  have  fallen  down,  and 
much  of  the  stone  has  been  removed,  a  good  deal  of 
it  to  construct  a  mole  at  the  port.  The  Temple  of 


AGRIGENTUM  589 

Hercules,  about  two  hundred  and  forty  feet  long,  is 
surrounded  by  thirty-eight  columns.  It  contained 
the  statue  of  Hercules,  which  Verres  attempted  to 
steal  at  night,  but  his  mercenaries  were  repulsed  by 
the  citizens.  Adjoining  is  the  Porta  Aurea,  the  old 
town  gate  leading  to  the  harbor,  by  which  the  victori- 
ous Romans  entered  Agrigentum,  210  B.  C.  The 
tomb  of  Theron  is  here,  and  farther  down  the  hill, 
near  the  confluence  of  the  two  little  rivers,  stood 
Myron's  famous  statue  of  Apollo.  The  Temple  of 
Concord,  nearly  one  hundred  and  forty  feet  long,  is 
the  best  preserved  of  these  structures,  because  after 
the  Norman  occupation  it  was  converted  into  a 
church,  San  Gregario  della  Rape  (the  turnip).  It 
has  a  colonnade  of  thirty-four  columns.  The  Temple 
of  Juno  Lacinia,  one  hundred  and  thirty-four  feet 
long,  had  thirty-four  columns,  but  earthquakes  have 
damaged  some,  so  that  only  twenty-five  are  standing, 
and  nine  half-columns  have  been  rebuilt.  All  of 
them  are  much  eaten  by  the  hot  sirocco  blowing 
against  their  southeastern  sides.  The  Temple  of 
Castor  and  Pollux  is  one  hundred  and  eleven  feet 
long,  and  also  had  thirty-four  columns,  but  it  was 
almost  entirely  destroyed.  Portions  of  two  temples 
have  been  used  in  a  partial  restoration,  by  which  four 
Doric  columns  were  recently  rebuilt.  Its  site  over- 
looks the  hollow  of  the  fishpond.  There  are  remains 
of  a  small  Temple  of  Ceres,  now  a  church,  and  there 
also  were  temples  erected  to  Vulcan  and  Esculapius. 


590  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

SOUTHEASTERN    SICILY. 

From  Girgenti,  a  railway,  by  winding  route 
through  the  mountainous  district  of  central  Sicily, 
goes  over  to  Catania  on  the  Messina  Strait,  and  dis- 
plays superb  scenery.  Its  initial  path  is  among  the 
zolfare,  the  Girgenti  sulphur  mines,  and  it  soon  pen- 
etrates the  mountain  fastnesses,  and  is  constructed 
along  the  bottom  of  a  wild  and  tortuous  ravine,  hav- 
ing perched  high  above,  on  the  summit  of  the  enclos- 
ing rocky  precipices,  the  towns  of  Calescibotta  to  the 
north  and  Castrogiovanni  on  the  south,  their  people 
looking  down  upon  the  railway  trains  in  the  gorge 
far  below.  The  strongly  fortified  hill  top  of  Cas- 
trogiovanni, elevated  2,600  feet,  is  the  geographical 
centre  of  Sicily,  and  one  of  its  most  famous  cities. 
The  town  is  constructed  on  the  flat  summit,  in  the 
form  of  a  semicircle,  open  toward  the  east,  and  hav- 
ing the  noble  mass  of  Etna  in  full  view.  Here  came 
the  Greeks  from  Syracuse,  in  their  wanderings  across 
the  island  in  the  seventh  century  B.  C.,  and  founded 
Enna,  so  called  from  its  form  and  central  position, 
as  the  "  umbilicus  of  Sicily."  It  was  the  location  of 
the  worship  of  Demeter-Koza  (Ceres)  by  the  earlier 
peoples,  and  much  of  the  original  Sicilian  mythology 
is  connected  with  this  imposing  hill.  The  Romans 
got  it  after  two  years'  siege,  in  the  second  century 
B.  C.,  and  in  the  ninth  century  A.  D.,  the  Saracens 
made  repeated  unsuccessful  attacks,  finally  capturing 


SOUTHEASTERN  SICILY  591 

the  place  by  treachery  in  859.  They  called  it  Kasr- 
Yani,  from  which  the  present  name  is  derived.  The 
Normans  conquered  in  1087,  and  during  the  sub- 
sequent centuries  it  was  strongly  fortified.  The 
ancient  citadel,  La  Rocca,  occupies  the  topmost  pin- 
nacle of  the  hill,  its  towers  giving  lovely  outlooks  in 
many  directions.  Here  originally  stood  the  Temple 
of  Demeter,  but  no  vestige  remains.  As  the  railway 
proceeds  eastward  beyond  the  ravine,  there  is  a 
splendid  retrospect  of  the  two  cities,  high  upon  the 
rocky  cliffs,  between  which  the  train  has  passed.  A 
little  way  to  the  southward,  among  the  hills,  is  the 
Lake  Pergusa,  with  its  caverns,  the  place  to  which 
Pluto  is  said  to  have  carried  off  Proserpine.  Its 
waters  are  now  availed  of  by  the  hard-working  peo- 
ple, for  steeping  their  flax.  To  the  northeast  of 
Castrogiovanni,  upon  a  hill  even  higher,  is  Agira,  one 
of  the  most  ancient  of  the  Sikelean  cities,  and  far 
antedating  the  Grecian  occupation.  Here  was  born 
the  historian  Diodorus,  who  describes  the  place,  and 
tells  how  Hercules  visited  it  during  his  wanderings  in 
the  Mediterranean  regions.  He  was  worshipped  as 
the  patron  then,  but  now  the  tutelary  genius  of  Agira 
is  St.  Philip. 

The  coastal  district  to  the  southeast  of  Girgenti  is 
full  of  sulphur  deposits,  and  at  fifty-three  miles  dis- 
tance is  another  sulphur  shipping  town,  and  the  chief 
port  of  the  Southern  Sicilian  coast,  Licata.  It  was 
originally  established  by  the  Phoenicians,  and  be- 


592  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

came  a  Carthaginian  stronghold,  their  fleet  having 
been  vanquished  off  the  port  by  Regulus,  in  one  of 
the  greatest  naval  contests  in  ancient  times,  256  B.  C. 
About  twenty  miles  farther  southeast,  on  the  coast, 
is  another  seaport,  Terranova.  In  and  around  the 
town  are  the  remains  of  Gela,  which  the  Greeks 
founded  689  B.  C.  and  where  ^Eschylus  died  456 
B.  C.  From  here  went  out  the  colony  that  originally 
settled  Acragas  (Girgenti).  Hippocrates  was  its 
ruler,  when  at  the  apex  of  its  prosperity,  in  the  fifth 
century,  B.  C.,  but  in  the  latter  part  of  that  century, 
the  Carthaginians  captured  and  destroyed  the  place. 
There  are  remains  of  a  Grecian  temple  erected  to 
Apollo,  and  from  here  Hamilcar  sent  the  celebrated 
statue  of  that  god  to  Tyre,  where  it  was  found  by 
Alexander  the  Great.  The  final  destruction  of  Gela 
was  in  282  B.  C.,  and  the  present  modern  town  has 
risen  from  its  ruins.  Some  distance  farther  is  Vit- 
toria,  on  an  inland  hill,  having  its  port  of  Scoglitti, 
and  on  the  coast,  down  to  which  flows  the  little  river 
Camerina,  is  the  ancient  Hipparis.  To  the  eastward 
of  this  stream  are  the  extensive  ruins  of  the  Grecian 
city  of  Camarina,  settled  by  Syracuse  in  599  B.  C., 
and  afterward  a  colony  of  Gela.  It  had  a  desultory 
existence  until  the  ninth  century  A.  D.,  when  the 
Saracens  destroyed  it.  To  the  northward,  and  near 
Vittoria,  is  Comiso,  where  was  the  noted  fountain  of 
Diana,  a  spring  whose  waters  refused  to  mingle  with 
wine,  when  drawn  by  impure  women. 


•       SOUTHEASTERN  SICILY  593 

Farther  southeastward,  among  the  limestone  hills, 
is  Modica,  a  city  of  nearly  fifty  thousand  people, 
built  in  the  ravines  which  are  cut  down  by  streams  in 
these  elevations.  From  it  extends  for  several  miles 
toward  the  coast,  the  famous  ravine  of  the  Cava 
d'Ispica,  one  of  the  most  noted  antiquarian  curiosi- 
ties of  Sicily.  The  grottoes  of  this  extended  gorge 
are  said  to  have  been  constructed  by  the  original 
Sicanians,  and  were  not  only  tombs,  but  also  habita- 
tions. They  are  built  as  chambers,  and  of  different 
stories  to  which  access  was  had  through  interior 
apertures.  The  entrances  from  the  outside  are  usu- 
ally several  feet  above  the  ground.  Many  of  them 
contain  graves,  others  are  believed  to  have  been  the 
habitations  of  rock  drillers,  and  there  are  inscriptions, 
showing  that  some  were  used  for  Christian  burial  in 
the  fourth  century.  To  the  northward  of  Modica, 
about  twenty  miles  distant  among  the  mountains,  at 
an  elevation  of  nearly  2,300  feet,  is  the  Grecian 
Acrae,  founded  by  an  early  colony  from  Syracuse,  a 
settlement  that  became  the  Roman  Placeolum,  and 
the  Arabic  el  Akrat,  from  which  names  were  derived 
its  present  title  of  Palazzolo  Acreide.  Its  acropolis, 
on  the  top  of  a  high  hill,  could  be  approached  only 
from  the  eastward.  There  are  here  the  tombs  and 
relics  of  all  the  races  that  successively  held  this  fort- 
ress, from  the  early  Grecian  era  down  to  the  Sara- 
cens. The  latter  destroyed  it,  and  the  modern  town 

has  grown  at  the  base  of  the  hill.     From  here  flows 
VOL.  1—38 


594  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

southeastward,  the  river  Cassibile,  to  the  sea,  the 
ancient  Cacyparis,  on  whose  banks  the  General 
Demosthenes,  with  his  army  of  defeated  Athenians, 
retreating  from  Syracuse  in  413  B.  C.,  were  over- 
come and  had  to  surrender.  A  few  days  later, 
Nicias,  farther  southward  near  IsToto,  was  defeated 
with  the  Athenian  remnant,  on  the  river  Asinarius. 
The  Syracusan  conquerors  erected  in  the  river  bed 
a  monument  to  mark  the  victory,  and  there  still 
stands  a  fragment  of  this  column  La  Pizzuta,  rising 
about  thirty  feet,  which  has  survived  for  twenty-four 
centuries.  The  limestone  formations  finally  termi- 
nate in  the  rugged  cliffs  of  the  massive  promontory, 
the  ancient  Pachynum,  forming  the  southeastern  ex- 
tremity of  Sicily,  now  known  as  the  Cape  P'assero. 

SYRACUSE. 

We  come  to  the  greatest  of  all  the  ancient  cities  of 
Sicily,  where  over  a  half  million  people  lived  in  the 
height  of  its  prosperity  —  Syracuse  —  which  Cicero 
praised  as  "  the  largest  of  Greek,  and  the  most 
beautiful  of  all  cities."  To-day  it  is  a  place  of  about 
twenty-five  thousand  population, —  the  Italian  Sira- 
cusa  —  confined  to  the  island  whereon  was  made  the 
original  Greek  settlement,  its  trade  being  small,  and 
its  present  fame  based  almost  entirely  upon  the 
memories  of  the  distant  past.  The  southeastern 
shore  of  Sicily,  some  distance  northward  of  Cape 
Passero,  projects  into  the  sea,  in  limestone  masses, 


SYRACUSE  595 

where  is  scoured  out  a  small  semicircular  bay,  into 
which  flows,  through  a  low  and  marshy  surface  among 
the  cliffs,  the  river  Anapo,  the  ancient  Anapos. 
From  the  mainland  northward,  which  rises  to  some 
elevation,  there  extends  a  small  peninsula,  and  off  its 
end  to  the  southward,  is  the  rocky  island  of  Ortygia, 
enclosing  and  protecting  the  eastern  side  of  the  bay,  so 
that  the  entrance  from  the  south  is  narrowed  to  about 
three-quarters  of  a  mile  in  width.  This  forms  an 
admirable  harbor,  now  known  as  the  Porto  Grande, 
and  its  shores  were  early  settled  by  the  original 
Sikelians  and  the  Phoenicians.  The  ancient  city  of 
Syracuse  was  extended  far  over  the  mainland,  north 
and  west,  which  is  strewn  with  relics  of  the  Grecian 
and  Roman  days.  The  limestone  structure  abounds 
as  usual  in  water-worn  caverns,  and  also  in  what  are 
known  as  Lattomie,  or  open  excavations,  made  by 
similar  action  of  the  water  upon  the  limestone,  and 
enlarged  by  quarrying.  The  harbor  and  its  enclosing 
hills  present  a  scene  of  great  natural  beauty,  its  at- 
tractions enhanced  by  the  historical  and  classical 
fame  of  ancient  Syracuse. 

The  story  is  that  when  the  Greeks  first  came  to 
Sicily,  founding  Xaxos  in  the  eighth  century  B.  C., 
almost  under  the  shadow  of  Mount  Etna,  another  col- 
ony led  by  Archias  from  Corinth,  entered  the  bay 
behind  Ortygia  and  found  there  the  Fountain  of  Are- 
thusa,  on  the  western  shore  of  the  island,  in  a  region 
of  great  fertility  and  beauty.  This  lattomia  is  the 


596  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

mouth  of  a  tunnel  through  the  limestone,  of  unknown 
and  mysterious  length.  The  classic  legend  suggests 
that  it  extends  beneath  the  sea,  over  to  Elis  in  Greece, 
where  the  blushing  nympth  Arethusa  was  surprised 
while  bathing,  by  the  river  god  Alpheus,  and  was 
pursued  hither,  when  by  the  interposition  of  Diana, 
she  was  changed  to  the  river,  which  there  disappears, 
and  here  pours  out  a  copious  flow.  An  earthquake  in 
the  eleventh  century  made  the  waters  salt.  In  the 
olden  time,  this  sacred  but  convenient  pool  was  the 
public  washtub  for  the  Syracusans,  but  the  spring 
has  recently  been  enclosed  in  a  spacious  basin,  sur- 
rounded by  papyrus  plants.  The  Grecian  colony 
grew  in  importance,  and  in  the  fifth  century  B.  C. 
passed  under  control  of  Gelon,  who  transferred  his 
capital  hither,  and  after  his  defeat  of  the  Carthagin- 
ians at  Himera  480  B.  C.,  Syracuse  became  the  con- 
trolling power  of  Sicily.  His  brother,  Hiero  I,  then 
reigned,  and  at  his  court  yEschylus  and  Pindar 
flourished.  Thrasybulus  succeeded,  but  subsequently 
he  was  expelled,  and  a  Democracy  ruled  the  city,  and 
then  came  the  period  of  the  Athenian  attacks.  In 
414,  the  Athenian  fleet  and  army  under  Nicias  re- 
duced the  city  to  extremities,  almost  surrounding  it 
by  a  double  wall  cutting  off  succor.  But  help  came, 
originally  from  Sparta.  The  Athenians  were  discom- 
fited; disease  and  dissension  added  to  their  troubles. 
They  decided  upon  retreat,  but  just  when  it  was  to 
begin,  there  was  an  eclipse  of  the  moon,  August  27, 


SYRACUSE  597 

413,  and  the  superstition  of  Nicias  delayed  the 
march.  This  gave  the  Syracusans  time  to  prepare 
for  the  final  battle,  in  which  the  Athenians  were  de- 
feated, one  retreating  body  under  General  Demos- 
thenes being  finally  overcome  on  the  Cacyparis,  and 
shortly  afterward  the  other  under  Nicias,  on  the 
Asinarius,  near  Xoto.  Both  generals  were  captured 
and  executed,  and  the  thousands  of  other  captives 
after  several  months'  confinement  in  the  lattomie, 
which  were  used  for  prisons,  were  sold  as  slaves,  very 
few  getting  pardon,  and  these  only  being  liberated 
because  they  could  skilfully  recite  the  verses  of  Eu- 
ripedes.  This  defeat  turned  the  tide  of  the  Pelopon- 
nesian  War,  Athens  lost  its  prestige,  and  Thucydides, 
W7ho  described  the  conflict,  says  this  "  event  was  the 
most  important  which  befell  the  Greeks  during  this 
war,  or  indeed  in  any  others  in  Greek  history  which 
are  known  to  us." 

In  the  fourth  century  B.  C.  the  Carthaginians 
overran  Sicily,  and  under  Himilco  besieged  Syra- 
cuse. Dionysius  I  was  then  ruler,  and  aided  by  a 
pestilence  in  the  camp  of  the  besiegers,  drove  them 
off,  afterward  defeating  their  allies.  He  greatly  ex- 
tended and  embellished  the  city,  ruled  over  the  chief 
part  of  Sicily  and  Greece,  and  became  one  of  the 
most  powerful  sovereigns  of  the  time,  his  reign  con- 
tinuing nearly  forty  years.  He  built  a  wall,  of  huge 
blocks  of  stone,  around  the  city,  erecting  the  northern 
portion  about  402,  and  is  said  to  have  constructed 


598  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

about  three  and  one-half  miles  of  it  within  a  period 
of  three  weeks,  employing  sixty  thousand  workmen 
and  six  thousand  yoke  of  oxen  at  the  task.  On  the 
rocky  mainland,  amid  the  relics  of  the  ancient  city, 
northwest  of  the  island,  is  the  Lattomia  del  Paradiso, 
a  large  ancient  quarry  over  a  hundred  feet  deep, 
from  which  much  of  the  material  for  this  wall  and 
the  buildings  was  taken.  Adjoining  is  another,  now 
known  as  the  "  Ear  of  Dionysius,"  having  an  enor- 
mous entrance,  being  a  grotto  hewn  in  the  rock,  two 
hundred  feet  deep,  seventy-four  feet  high  and  about 
thirty  feet  wide,  constructed  in  the  form  of  the  letter 
S,  and  making  a  limestone  tunnel  six  hundred  feet 
long,  beyond  which  the  roof  descends.  At  the 
farther  extremity  of  the  high  archway,  and  about 
sixty  feet  from  the  floor,  there  is  a  small  concealed 
chamber  excavated  in  the  rock.  This  lattomia  has 
the  most  remarkable  acoustic  properties,  the  slightest 
sound  in  the  grotto  being  heard  at  the  inner  end,  and 
the  tradition  is  that  Dionysius  was  wont  to  sit  in 
this  hidden  chamber,  to  listen  to  the  conversation  of 
his  prisoners  in  the  grotto,  as  they  stealthily  whis- 
pered their  plots.  Other  lattomie  have  similar  prop- 
erties, and  it  is  said  the  grim  old  "  tyrant  of  Syra- 
cuse "  used  several  of  them  for  prisons.  His  son 
and  successor,  Dionysius  II,  did  not  have  the  father's 
force  of  character,  and  was  repeatedly  banished. 
Agathocles  usurped  the  power  in  317,  ruling  twenty- 
eight  years,  when  he  was  poisoned.  The  final  period 


SYRACUSE  599 

of  Syracusan  prosperity  came  in  the  third  century, 
when  Hiero  II  became  king,  ruling  for  nearly  sixty 
years,  and  having  among  the  famous  men  of  his  time 
Theocrites  and  Archimedes.  At  first  Hiero  was  an 
ally  of  the  Carthaginians  in  the  Punic  war,  but  sub- 
sequently became  the  ally  of  Rome. 

In  216  B.  C.  Hieronymus  succeeded,  and  allied 
himself  with  the  Carthaginians.  He  was  assassi- 
nated, and  afterward  the  Romans,  under  Marcellus, 
made  the  famous  siege,  continuing  two  years,  in 
which  the  defence  was  greatly  aided  by  the  mechani- 
cal and  scientific  genius  of  Archimedes.  Ancient 
Syracuse  extended  over  the  precipitous  coast,  north- 
ward from  the  island  of  Ortygia,  upon  a  broad  lime- 
stone plateau  called  the  Achradina.  Its  western  side 
was  defended  by  the  wall  that  stretched  southward 
to  the  Porto  Grande,  then  known  as  the  "  Great 
Harbor,"  while  the  Porto  Piccolo,  or  "  Small  Har- 
bor," nestled  under  the  cliffs  to  the  northward  of  the 
island  Ortygia.  Another  strong  wall  defended  the 
southern  part  of  the  Achradina  toward  the  sea  front. 
To  the  northwest,  the  plateau  was  called  the  Tyche, 
from  a  Temple  of  Fortune,  while  westward  and  south 
of  the  Tyche,  was  the  terrace  of  Neapolis  above  the 
"  Great  Harbor."  The  plateau  westward  of  Tyche 
and  Neapolis,  contracted  and  ascended  into  the 
Epipolae,  the  highest  point  of  the  ancient  city,  it 
being  so  named,  according  to  the  explanation  of 
Thucydides,  because  it  was  above  or  on  top  of  the 


600  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

rest  of  the  city.  Thus  the  ancient  Syracuse  em- 
braced distinct  communities  —  Ortygia,  the  Achra- 
dina,  the  Tyche,  the  Neapolis,  and  the  Epipolse, — - 
included  in  a  circumference  of  about  fourteen  miles, 
over  which  the,  remains  of  its  magnificence  are  now 
thickly  strewn.  Around  this  aggregated  city,  on  the 
land  side,  Dionysius  I  constructed  the  great  wall, 
which  can  be  plainly  traced.  When  Marcellus  be- 
sieged Syracuse,  he  attacked  both  from  the  north  and 
from  the  sea,  the  coast  curving  around  from  north 
to  west,  and  thus  enclosing  the  Tyche  by  a  bay  known 
as  Tregilus  harbor.  While  the  Syracusans  were  cele- 
brating a  festival,  a  band  of  Romans,  coming  by  sea, 
scaled  the  Tyche  walls  near  this  harbor,  and  pro- 
ceeding along  the  summit,  captured  its  defensive 
work  of  Hexapylon,  and  being  followed  by  large 
reinforcements,  the  Romans  soon  got  possession  of 
the  Tyche,  Neapolis  and  the  crowning  fortress  of 
the  Epipolse.  Then  they  proceeded  to  attack  the 
wall  defending  the  Achradina  on  its  western  side, 
along  its  entire  length,  which  required  the  Syracusans 
to  make  a  defence  upon  such  an  extended  line,  that 
their  forces  had  to  be  withdrawn  from  the  island 
Ortygia  to  provide  help.  This  withdrawal  gave  the 
Romans  opportunity  to  avail  of  the  guidance  of  a 
traitor,  who  managed  to  introduce  the  crew  of 
a  Roman  vessel  into  the  town,  by  means  of  the 
Fountain  of  Arethusa  and  its  tunnel  through  the 
limestone,  so  that  the  Roman  legions  soon  got  pos- 


SYRACUSE  601 

session  of  the  island,  and  crossing  to  the  Achradina 
behind  the  wall,  captured  it  and  became  the  victors. 
Archimedes  was  slain  in  the  street  by  a  Roman  sol- 
dier, who  did  not  know  him,  and  a  vast  booty  was 
carried  off  to  Rome.  Thus  Syracuse  fell,  212  B.  C., 
the  conquerors  forbidding  the  people  to  live  any 
longer  on  the  island  Ortygia ;  the  city  sank  from  its 
high  estate,  and  became  thereafter  only  a  Roman 
provincial  town.  In  fact  it  was  so  reduced  by  the 
civil  wars  of  Pompey's  time  that  it  had  to  be  re- 
peopled.  Belisarius  captured  it  in  the  sixth  cen- 
tury of  the  Christian  era,  the  Saracens  in  the  ninth 
century,  and  the  Normans  got  possession  in  1085. 

Syracuse  was  one  of  the  earliest  of  the  Italian 
cities  to  embrace  Christianity.  When  the  Apostle 
Paul  journeyed  to  Rome,  he  spent  three  days  in 
the  city,  and,  according  to  the  tradition,  St.  Peter 
sent  St.  Marcian  hither  from  Antioch  to  preach 
Christianity  in  the  year  44.  The  modern  town,  like 
the  original  Greek  settlement,  is  on  the  island 
Ortygia,  its  cathedral,  on  the  western  side  near  the 
Fountain  of  Arethusa,  being  the  principal  building. 
On  this  site  originally  stood,  according  to  the  tradi- 
tion, a  Temple  of  Minerva,  which  became  a  Chris- 
tian church  in  the  seventh  century  and  a  mosque 
after  the  Saracenic  conquest.  This  temple  was  de- 
scribed by  Cicero,  as  a  sumptuous  edifice  filled  with 
the  treasures  which  Verres  plundered.  It  was  about 
one  hundred  and  eighty  feet  long  and  seventy  feet 


602  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

wide,  elevated  on  three  steps  forming  a  basement, 
and  as  it  was  largely  availed  of  in  the  subsequent 
church  construction,  and  was  also  altered  by  the 
Saracens,  it  presents  a  peculiar  architecture.  The 
cathedral  has  Moorish  battlements  rising  above  the 
walls,  and  on  the  northern  side  covering  the  old 
Doric  columns,  their  capitals  and  entablature. 
There  were  originally  thirty-six  columns  in  the  tem- 
ple, twenty-eight  feet  high  and  over  six  feet  in 
diameter.  Eleven  of  these  columns  are  now  on  the 
northern  side,  while  in  a  most  curious  way,  nine 
columns  on  the  southern  side  project  into  the  church 
interior.  There  is  an  interesting  museum  of  art 
treasures  and  antiquities  opposite  the  cathedral,  while 
to  the  northward  are  the  ruins  of  another  Greek  tem- 
ple, popularly  called  the  Temple  of  Diana,  but  from 
an  inscription,  recently  disclosed  in  excavating  the 
front,  it  is  said  to  have  really  been  dedicated  to 
Apollo.  The  modern  Syracuse  is  almost  entirely 
confined  to  the  island  and  around  these  ancient 
temples. 

The  five  separate  cities  forming  ancient  Syracuse, 
are  said  by  Strabo  to  have  had  a  circumference  of 
twenty  miles,  but  on  much  of  this  surface  on  the 
mainland,  every  trace  of  buildings  had  disappeared. 
Two  vast  aqueducts,  leading  from  the  hills  to  the 
northwest,  supplied  water.  One  of  these  still  flows 
near  the  summit  of  the  Epipolse,  falls  over  a  cascade 
by  the  ancient  theatre,  and  the  stream  then  runs 


SYRACUSE  603 

away  to  the  harbor.  The  other,  coming  from  an 
equal  height,  skirts  the  northern  wall,  sends  several 
branches  southward  through  the  Achradina,  and  then 
proceeds  by  a  subterranean  passage  to  the  sea.  Near 
the  entrance  to  the  "  Ear  of  Dionysius,"  and  adja- 
cent to  the  aqueduct,  is  the  Greek  theatre,  erected  in 
the  fifth  century  B.  C.,  hewn  in  semicircular  form 
in  the  rock,  measuring  about  five  hundred  feet  in 
diameter,  and  having  forty-six  tiers  of  seats  still  visi- 
ble, with  traces  of  others.  There  are  inscriptions 
recording  the  names  of  Hiero  II,  his  queen  Philistis, 
and  his  daughter-in-law  Nereis,  with  also  an  invoca- 
tion to  Zeus  Olympius.  From  the  hill  where  the 
theatre  stands,  there  is  a  superb  view  over  the  town, 
the  harbor  and  the  spacious  Ionian  sea  beyond.  In 
the  foreground  is  the  Amphitheatre  of  Augustus, 
two  hundred  and  thirty  feet  long  and  one  hundred 
and  thirty  feet  wide,  a  massive  Roman  construction, 
having  blocks  of  inarble,  that  were  taken  from  the 
ancient  parapet  by  the  barbarians,  still  lying  in  the 
arena.  Nearby  is  the  great  altar  of  Hiero  II,  six 
hundred  feet  long  and  seventy-five  feet  wide,  whereon 
he  made  sacrifices  to  the  gods,  among  them  the  an- 
nual offering  of  hundreds  of  oxen,  commemorating 
the  expulsion  of  Thrasybulus,  a  ceremony  observed 
for  many  years.  On  the  higher  plateau,  above  the 
theatre,  stood  the  temples  which  Gelon  erected  to 
Demeter  and  Proserpine,  with  spoil  taken  from  the 
Carthaginians,  and  here  was  the  Temenos  of  Apollo, 


604  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

with  the  statue  of  the  god  that  the  citizens  prevented 
Verres  from  carrying  off,  and  which  Tiberius  after- 
ward removed  to  Rome.  On  the  highest  point  of 
the  northwestern  plateau  and  the  verge  of  the 
Epipolse,  was  the  fortress  angle  in  the  enclosing  wall 
erected  by  Dionysius.  Five  massive  towers  guard 
this  angle,  where  the  northern  and  western  walls 
come  together,  and  two  deep  ditches  are  hewn  in  the 
rock,  whence  various  subterranean  passages  lead  to 
other  parts  of  the  defences.  This  was  the  ancient 
Fort  Euryelus,  now  known  as  Mongibellesi.  The 
plateau  summit  beyond  rises  over  six  hundred  feet 
above  the  sea. 

The  railway  northward,  from  Syracuse  to  Catania 
and  the  Strait  of  Messina,  is  constructed  near  the 
coast,  going  around  the  bases  of  the  higher  hills  of 
the  Achradina.  At  the  outset  it  skirts  the  shore 
of  the  "  Small  Harbor,"  north  of  the  island  Ortygia, 
that  Dionysius  formed  by  building  a  breakwater 
across  the  sea  entrance,  a  narrow  opening  admitting 
the  vessels.  The  whole  region  of  the  Achradina  is 
covered  with  remains  of  ancient  fortifications  and 
buildings.  Just  north  of  the  railway,  and  near  the 
harbor,  conspicuously  rises  the  steeple  of  the  Church 
of  Santa  Lucia,  standing  on  the  spot  where  this 
patron  saint  of  Syracuse  suffered  martyrdom.  There 
are  extensive  catacombs  of  the  early  Christian  era, 
and  these,  which  are  among  the  attractions  of  the 
Achradina,  stretch  far  to  the  northward,  being  usu- 


SYRACUSE  605 

ally  entered  from  the  monastery  of  the  Church  of 
St.  Giovanni  to  the  northwest.  This  church  was 
built  in  the  twelfth  century,  and  has  beneath,  the 
relics  of  a  Temple  of  Bacchus,  out  of  which  in 
the  fourth  century  was  hewn  the  earliest  church  in 
Christendom,  outside  of  the  Holy  Land.  This  work 
was  done  beneath  the  temple,  the  better  to  conceal 
its  existence  during  those  days  of  persecution.  It  is 
now  called  the  Crypt  of  St.  Marcian,  who  is  said  to 
have  been  bound  to  one  of  the  granite  columns,  and 
suffered  martyrdom.  In  the  temple  was  found  the 
marble  mixing  bowl  used  in  the  Bacchanalian  orgies, 
having  a  Greek  inscription,  and  ornamented  with 
bronze  lions  as  supporters,  it  now  being  used  as  the 
baptismal  font  in  the  cathedral.  Steps  descend  to 
the  ancient  church,  in  which  is  St.  Marcian's  tomb. 
When  St.  Paul  landed  at  Syracuse,  the  legend  says 
that  he  preached  in  the  temple,  which  was  after- 
ward converted  into  the  church.  Farther  westward 
are  tombs  with  Grecian  facades,  said  to  be  the  burial 
places  of  Timoleon  and  Archimedes.  To  the  north- 
east is  a  suppressed  Capuchin  monastery,  now  used 
for  farm  buildings,  and  nearby  is  the  wildest  and 
most  impressive  of  the  ancient  Lattomie,  the  Lat- 
tomia  de  Cappuccini.  This  spacious  quarry,  dis- 
playing a  most  beautiful  exhibition  of  luxuriant 
foliage,  was  the  prison,  in  the  time  of  Dionysius,  of 
over  seven  thousand  Athenian  captives,  who  wasted 
away  under  privation  and  disease,  intensified  by  the 


606  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

burning  rays  of  an  almost  tropical  sun,  until  death 
relieved  their  sufferings.  Ascending  to  the  higher 
plateau  northward,  there  is  a  grand  view  got  of  the 
noble  cone  of  the  distant  Mount  Etna. 

The  ancient  river  Anapus,  having  its  sources  in 
the  western  hills,  flows  out  to  the  "  Great  Harbor  " 
in  a  course  of  about  sixteen  miles,  and  debouches 
amid  the  marshlands  south  of  Syracuse.  Upon  a 
low  hill,  just  beyond  this  little  river,  and  rising 
above  the  swamps,  stand  a  solitary  pair  of  mutilated 
columns  in  a  field,  which  are  all  that  remains  of  the 
famous  temple  of  the  Olympian  Zeus  erected  in 
the  early  period  of  Syracuse.  In  this  temple  was 
a  statue  of  Zeus,  which  Cicero  described  as  very 
beautiful,  and  Gelon  furnished  it  with  a  golden  robe, 
but  Dionysius,  who  needed  the  gold,  removed  the 
robe,  as  he  said,  "  out  of  regard  for  the  comfort  of 
the  god,"  because  it  was  "  too  cold  in  winter  and 
too  heavy  in  summer."  This  hill  and  temple  be- 
came of  military  importance  when  Syracuse  was 
besieged,  and  Nicias  occupied  it  at  the  beginning  of 
the  Athenian  attack,  but  fearing  the  wrath  of  Zeus, 
he  did  not  disturb  its  treasures.  The  Carthaginians 
held  it  in  their  sieges,  and  Marcellus,  in  213,  found 
it  a  great  point  of  vantage.  Near  the  temple  was 
the  tomb  of  Gelon.  Coming  out  from  the  south- 
ward, the  Cyane  brook  falls  into  the  Anapus  on  the 
northwestern  side  of  the  hill.  Both  streams  are  nar- 
row and  filled  with  water-plants.  The  source  of  the 


SYRACUSE  607 

Cyane  is  the  famous  fountain  of  Cyane,  an  azure 
spring  of  the  clearest  water,  and  abounding  with 
fish.  It  is  thirty  feet  deep,  yet  the  stones  on  the 
bottom  can  be  distinctly  seen  through  the  completely 
transparent  fluid.  Cyane  was  a  lovely  water  nymph, 
said  to  be  the  wife  of  ^Eolus,  the  god  of  the  winds, 
who  lived  north  of  Sicily  in  the  JEolian  islands. 
Her  dearest  playmate  was  Proserpine,  whom  Pluto 
carried  off  to  Lake  Pergusa  and  the  infernal  regions, 
and  when  Cyane  sought  to  rescue  her,  the  nymph 
was  changed  into  this  fountain.  The  ancient  Syra- 
cusans  celebrated  here  an  annual  festival  in  honor  of 
Proserpine.  This  little  stream  is  famous  as  the 
only  place  in  Europe  where  the  papyrus  grows  wild 
in  its  native  luxuriance.  The  upper  waters  are 
thickly  bordered  by  the  lofty  plants,  some  twenty 
feet  in  height,  their  graceful  feathery  tufts,  particu- 
larly in  the  autumn,  coming  up  thickly  with  the 
castor-oil  plant,  and  giving  a  pleasant  feature  to  the 
landscape.  Upon  the  Saracenic  occupation,  these 
plants  were  brought  by  the  Arabs  from  Egypt  and 
introduced  here.  They  provided  the  material  of  the 
original  paper  makers.  At  the  bottom  of  the  stalk 
there  is  about  eight  to  ten  inches  of  solid  white, 
celery-like  juicy  stem,  with  parallel  fibres,  which 
can  be  sliced  into  thin  strips  of  moist  shavings  an 
inch  or  two  wide.  These  are  laid  side  by  side  on  a 
flat  surface,  with  the  edges  just  overlapping,  and 
are  covered  with  another  similar  layer  placed  cross- 


608  THE  MEDITERRANEAN 

wise.  Pressed  with  a  flatiron,  the  sap  glues  them 
together,  and  thus  forms  the  sheet  of  paper  of  the 
ancient  Egyptian,  which  set  the  fashion  in  paper- 
making  for  the  world.  From  this  came  writing,  and 
then  printing,  finally  developing  into  the  modern 
newspaper  with  its  vast  influence. 

Here  shall  the  Press  the  People's  right  maintain, 
Una  wed  by  influence,  and  unbribed  by  gain; 
Here  patriot  Truth  her  glorious  precepts  draw, 
Pledged  to  Religion,  Liberty  and  Law. 

Sicily  is  a  wonderful  island  in  its  grand  history 
and  scenic  attractiveness,  but  it  will  probably  be  best 
remembered  as  the  chief  scene  of  the  great  earth- 
quake of  December,  1908,  the  crowning  catastrophe 
of  this  land  of  earthquakes.  It  will  not  be  alone  the 
memory  of  that  awful  tragedy,  but  rather  of  the 
unrivalled  outburst  of  the  world's  sympathy  and  help 
that  it  called  forth.  The  poet  Lampton's  invocation 
thus  tells  it : 

Say,  earthquake,  when  you  shake 

Ten  thousand  houses  down,  and  crush  a  town; 

Lay  waste  the  fields;  disturb  the  sea; 

And  hurl  the  helpless  to  eternity  — 

Do  you  imagine,  oh  earthquake, 

That  that  is  all  you  shake? 

Grim,  palsying  monster,  it  is  not  for  you  to  know 

That  further  than  destruction  you  may  go; 

But  there  is  more,  earthquake:     You  shake 

The  great  world's  heart  until  it  pours 

The  best  that's  in  it  on  your  shores. 

You  shake  the  money  from  a  million  hands 


SYRACUSE  609 

Stretched  out  to  help  from  far  and  nearby  lands; 

You  shake  the  ever-living  tree  of  sacred  human  sympathy; 

You  shake  the  thoughtless  into  active  thought 

Of  making  good  the  ruin  you  have  wrought; 

You  shake  the  multiplicity  of  creeds 

Into  one  common  cause  of  human  needs; 

You  shake  the  great  world's  heart  until  it  yields 

Its  best  on  stricken  cities  and  on  riven  fields. 

Say,  earthquake,  though  you  shake 

Much  ill  upon  the  smaller  space, 

You  shake  much  good  to  all  the  human  rare, 

Which  needs  such   shocks  as  these 

To  wake  its  nobler  energies. 


END    OF    VOLUME   I 


VOL.  1—39 


